f 


LIBuARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 


<•* 

J 


America  in  its  Relation  to   the 
Great  Epochs  of  History 


/ 

America 

In 

Its   Relation,  to   the  Great 
Epochs  of  History 

By 

William  Justin  Mann 


Boston 

Little,  Brown,  and  Company 
1902 


Copyright,  1902, 
BY  LITTLE,  BROWN,  AND  COMPANY. 


AH  rights  reserved 
Published  December,  1902 


UNIVERSITY    PRESS  •   JOHN    WILSON 
AND    SON      •     CAMBRIDGE,    U.  S.  A. 


TT  seems  as  if,  once  in  a  while,  God  sends  into  the 
world  a  human  soul  so  beautiful  that  it  is  at  once  a 
revelation  of  Himself  and  of  our  own  possibilities.  To 
have  known  such  a  soul  and  to  have  been  always  sur- 
rounded by  its  love  I  count  my  dearest  blessing.  I 
dedicate  this  little  book  to 

MY   MOTHER 


PREFACE 

IT  is  well  to  have  an  ideal  —  however  im- 
perfectly it  may  be  wrought  out.  Having 
recently  come  upon  the  following  passage  in 
"  The  Art  Work  of  the  Future  "  as  it  appears 
in  Mr.  William  Ashton  Ellis'  translation  of  the 
Prose  Works  of  Richard  Wagner,  it  seems  to 
me  to  express  the  ideal  which  I  have  uncon- 
sciously had  in  my  mind  in  the  grouping  of  the 
material  for  this  book.  Here  is  the  passage : 

"  The  idea  ('Begriff')  of  a  thing  is  the  image 
formed  in  Thought  of  its  actual  substances ;  the 
portrayal  of  the  images  of  all  discernable  sub- 
stances in  one  joint-image,  in  which  the  faculty  of 
Thought  presents  to  itself  the  picture  of  the 
essence  of  all  realities  in  their  connected  sequence, 
is  the  work  of  the  highest  energy  of  the  human 
soul,  —the  Spirit  (*  Geist ')." 

A  considerable  portion  of  the  contents  of 
this  little  volume  has  been  given  in  the  form 
of  lectures.  The  last  chapter  and  a  part  of 
the  next  to  the  last  have  not  been  so  given. 


viii  PREFACE 

These  lectures  have  been  somewhat  elastic  and 
hardly  given  twice  alike.  Their  present  form 
is  the  last  in  which  they  happen  to  have  been 
moulded.  But  much  is  left  out  which  might 
have  been  included  and  ought  to  be  included 
in  order  to  even  approach  the  ideal  of  giving 
a  joint-image  of  all  discernable  substances 
included  in  its  scope. 

And  yet  perhaps  the  form  as  it  is  will  serve 
to  express  the  thought  and  the  purpose.  It  is 
my  firm  conviction  that  history  ought  to  be 
read  and  studied  substantially  on  the  lines 
here  laid  down,  and  that  it  is  not  so  read  and  is 
not  so  studied  in  our  schools.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  culture  values  of  history  are  of  first 
importance  and  are  sadly  lost  sight  of.  To 
catch  the  great  swing  and  rhythm  of  the  move- 
ments of  history ;  to  view  it  as  a  sacred  thing, 
as  the  record  of  the  activities  of  God  himself ; 
to  see  the  development  of  humanity  as  an  ex- 
pression of  the  Deity ;  to  catch  the  many-sided- 
ness and  yet  the  unity  of  it  all ;  to  feel  the 
great  pulse  of  humanity  and  especially  in  its 
quickening  bounds  of  progress, — all  this  seems 
to  me  of  the  first  importance,  and  to  be  involved 


PREFACE  ix 

in  anything  worthy  the  name  of  the  study  of 
history. 

For  some  of  the  material  here  contained  I 
have  gone  to  original  sources ;  for  much  of  it 
I  am  indebted  in  such  various  directions  that 
acknowledgment  is  difficult.  From  the  printed 
description  of  the  Grail  pictures  as  given  on 
the  card  at  the  Boston  Public  Library  to  sug- 
gestions made  by  Pres.  G.  Stanley  Hall  of 
Clark  University  after  listening  to  a  paper 
comprising  a  part  of  one  of  the  following 
chapters,  1  have  culled  material  from  many 
sources,  and  have  received  help  from  a  great 
number  of  books,  from  various  lectures,  and 
from  the  kindly  courtesy  and  help  of  a  great 
many  librarians. 

My  thanks  are  especially  due  to  the  Boston 
Evening  Transcript  for  the  permission  to  use 
the  story  of  "  The  Real  Hiawatha"  which  has 
already  appeared  in  its  columns. 

If  the  reader  shall  receive  any  small  portion 
of  the  pleasure  and  profit  that  the  author  has 
found  in  its  preparation,  the  existence  of  this 

book  will  be  justified. 

W.  J.  M. 


CONTENTS 

INTRODUCTION 

Page 

The  Point  of  View 1-14 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

Just  before  the  Dawn  of  the  Renaissance 17 

The  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail 18,  20 

Mediaeval  Love 21 

St.  Francis  of  Assissi 22 

Magna  Charta 23 

The  English  language  waking  into  life 24 

Art  as  the  great  interpreter 25,  26 

The  higher  harmony 27 

Giotto  and  Dante 28 

Petrarch,  the  first  humanist 29,  30 

The  literary  impulse  at  Rome 31 

A  world  awaking  from  its  sleep 32 

The  poets  as  the  prophets 33 

The  boy  Columbus 34 

Columbus  at  Cordova  and  at  Granada 35 

The  conquest  of  Granada 36 

Geographical  investigation  and  exploration     ....      37 
Gunpowder,  printing,  and  the  mariner's  compass      .     .      38 

The  Italy  of  the  Renaissance 39,  40 

Florence  and  the  San  Marco  Gardens  of  Lorenzo  the 
Magnificent 41-43 


xii  CONTENTS 

Page 

Greece  and  Israel  as  Food  Leaves  of  History  .  .  .  44-47 
The  Forest  Impulse  and  the  Real  Hiawatha  .  .  .  48-55 

The  Legend  of  Card 66-59 

The  two  pictures  and  their  meaning 60 

The  New  Philosophy  of  History 61,  62 

The  new  scene  for  the  new  individual 63 

The  vision  of  Columbus  a  vision  for  the  world     .     .      64, 66 

CHAPTER  II 

HOMES   IN   THE   NEW   WORLD 

History  a  novel  that  happened 69 

The  progress  in  science 70 

Galileo  and  the  first  telescope 71,  72 

The  garden  at  Woolsthorpe 73 

Bacon,  Descartes,  and  John  Locke 74 

Algernon  Sidney  and  the  motto  of  the  Great  Seal  of 

Massachusetts 76-79 

The  Christian  Renaissance 80 

The  Flemish  school  of  painters 81 

1588  —  the  "  Annus  Mirabilis  " 82 

The  drawn  sword 83 

The  English  Parliament  in  1628 84 

England  in  1629 85 

The  strange  star 86 

The  Great  Design  of  Henry  of  Navarre  ....  87-89 
Milton's  ode  "  On  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity  "  90,  91 

Hugo  Grotius 92 

The  artistic  impulse  of  the  English  Bible  ....  93-96 
Bradford's  History  of  the  Plymouth  Plantation  .  .  97-105 
Rufus  Choate  on  New  England  history  as  a  series  of 

romances 106 

The  Romance  of  Humanity 107 

The  story  of  the  growth  of  modern  liberty 108 


CONTENTS  xiii 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    FEDERAL    CONVENTION    AND    THE    ADOPTION    OF 

THE   CONSTITUTION 

Page 

The  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century Ill 

The  tree  as  a  political  symbol 112,  113 

Science  in  the  eighteenth  century 114 

Diderot  and  the  French  Encyclopaedia 115 

Schieler,  and  Kant's  Critique  of  Pure  Reason  ....  116 
Goethe  and  the  modern  doctrine  of  evolution  ....  117 
German  thought  and  culture  of  the  eighteenth  century  118 
Hegel's  Universal  State  in  its  relation  to  the  Federal 

Convention  and  the  Constitution 119 

Immanuel  Kant  on  a  Cosmopolitical   State  and  on 

Perpetual  Peace 120 

The  realization  of  the  individual  will  through  society 

and  the  State 121,  122 

The  State  as  an  expression  of  the  political  nature  of  man  123 
The  growth  of  the  individual  and  the  American  citizen  124 
The  world  as  it  was  when  that  new  individual,  the 

American  citizen,  found  himself    called  upon  to 

establish  a  new  fabric  of  government 125 

Conditions  existing  just  previous  to  the  meeting  of  the 

Federal  Convention 126 

Propositions  for  a  union  of  the  Colonies 127-129 

The  Five  Nations  and  the  struggle  for  supremacy  on 

the  North  American  Continent 130, 131 

The  Lancaster  treaty  and  the  advice  of  Cannassatego 

132-135 
The  character  of  the  people  of  the  Five  Nations  .    .  136-138 

A  Legend  of  the  Horse-shoe  Falls 139, 140 

Independence  Hall 141 

The  assembling  of  the  Federal  Convention 142 


xiv  CONTENTS 

Page 

The  words  of  Washington 143 

The  delegates  to  the  Federal  Convention    ....  144-148 
Washington  presiding  over  the  deliberations   of  the 

Convention 149 

The  three  propositions  before  the  Convention  ....    150 

The  Virginia  plan 151 

The  New  Jersey  plan 152 

Mr.  Hamilton's  sketch 153 

Difficulty  concerning  the  question  of  representation  164-156 

Slavery  as  an  underlying  difficulty 157 

Difference  of  opinion  as  to  executive  head  of  govern- 
ment     158 

The  words  of  Franklin  at  the  close  of  the  Convention  .     159 

Ratification  of  the  Constitution 160, 161 

Rejoicings  and  festivities 162 

Hamilton  and  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution      .     .     163 

The  sources  of  the  Constitution 164 

The  Constitution  as  the  realization  of  the  will  of  the 
individual  citizen 165 


CHAPTER  IV 

AMERICA   AS   A   FORMATIVE   FORCE   IN   HISTORY 

1850  as  an  epoch  mark 169 

Daniel  Webster's  7th  of  March  speech  and  his  reply  to 

Hayne 170 

The  flag  and  the  lantern 171 

The  situation  in  1850  —  Mr.  Calhoun's  speech  .  .  .  172 
Mr.  Webster  concerning  compensating  the  South  for 

their  slaves 173 

The  circumstances  attending  the  7th  of  March  speech  .  174 
Peace  Congresses  of  1850  and  1851,  and  words  of  Victor 

Hugo  and  of  Carlyle 175 


CONTENTS  xv 

Page 
1850  and  the  political  reconstruction  of  Europe    .    .    .    176 

Christian  Socialism 177 

The  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood 178, 179 

Literature  in  the  mid-nineteenth  century  —  The  Ameri- 
can Renaissance 180 

Scientific  accomplishment  and  brilliant  men    ....     181 
The  France   of   Victor  Hugo    and  the    Germany  of 

Richard  Wagner 182 

The  formative  influence  exercised  by  America  upon 

the  world  in  the  Epoch  of  Discovery  ....  183-186 
The  mission  of  America  in  the  time  of  Settlement  .  187-189 
History  viewed  as  a  procession  passing  before  our  view 

190, 191 

The  influence  of  America  in  the  eighteenth  century      .     192 
The  argument  of  James  Otis  against  writs  of  assistance 

193-196 

America  moulding  the  thought  of  the  world     .    .     .  197, 198 
America  as  an  object-lesson  of  the  stability  of  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government 199 

The  new  era  —  an  epoch  of  Unity 200,  201 

Political  Integration 202,  203 

The  flower  of  an  International  State 204,  205 

Are  the  terms  of  evolution  all  ? 206 

Shaping  ideas  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  cen- 
turies   207 

Rousseau  and  the  Law  of  Nature 208 

The  attitude  of  the  Greek  philosophers  and  the  Roman 

jurists  concerning  the  Law  of  Nature     ....  209,  210 

The  logic  involved  in  the  Law  of  Nature 211 

The  appeal  to  the  Law  of  Nature  in  France  and  in 

America 212 

Devolution 213 

The  poet  as  the  best  scientist 214 

Interrogating  the  deeps 215 


xvi  CONTENTS 

Page 

Sadness  in  the  terms  of  evolution 216 

The  Universal  State 217 

The  saving  unity 218 

The  inner  life  of  the  State 219, 220 

CHAPTER  V 

CORRELATIONS 

The  unity  and  the  correlation  of  it  all 223 

America  as  the  first-born  of  the  modern  nations  .    .    .    224 

St.  Thomas  Aquinas 225 

Nicolaus  von  Cusa 226,  227 

The  Dutch  Declaration  of  Independence 228 

Device  for  a  Seal  of  the  United  States 229,  230 

The  new  order  of  the  centuries 231 

Man  as  a  co-Creator 232 

The  people  and  their  Kings 233,  234 

Rousseau  and  Immanuel  Kant 235,  236 

The  nature  of  man  normally  aesthetic 237,  238 

No  unrelated  event  in  the  story 239 

Horatio  Hale  and  the  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites   .    .     .  240,  241 

The  Dutch  and  the  Iroquois 242 

Steps  toward  a  union  of  the  Colonies  for  defence      .  243, 244 
Conference  at  Albany  with  the  Six  Nations     ....    245 

Archibald  Kennedy's  pamphlet 246 

The  situation  in  1754 247 

The  youthful  messenger — Washington 248-250 

The  Albany  Congress  of  1754 251-254 

Washington  at  Fort  Necessity 255 

Franklin's  "  Short  Hints  " 256,  257 

Reasons  for  impossibility  of  agreement  between  Great 

Britain  and  the  Colonies 258 

The  Genesis  of  our  Government 259,260 

The  world  relations  of  American  history 261 


CONTENTS  xvii 

Page 

France  and  the  Five  Nations 262 

The  opportunity  for  the  study  of  primitive  man   .     .     .     263 
Physiological  Psychology  and  the  New  Philosophy  of 

History 264 

American  history  as  a  fascinating  study 265 

A  plea  for  a  change  in  the  methods  of  our  schools     266-268 

The  vision  of  truth  and  of  beauty 269 

The  wider  view .    270 


APPENDIX 

The  state  of  the  English  language  at  the  time  in  which 

Wycliffe  wrote 273 

What  the  men  of  Jerusalem  saw  in  the  sky  ....  274 
The  havoc  caused  by  the  Thirty  Years'  War  ....  275 
Queen  Elizabeth  and  the  Great  Design  of  Henry  of 

Navarre 276,277 

The  political  influence  exerted  by  Hegel's  philosophy  .  278 
Voltaire  and  Diderot  compare  the  French  and  the 

English  mind 279 

Rousseau  and  the  French  Revolution 280 

Circumstances  attending  publication  of  Browning's 

Essay  on  Shelley 280,281 

The  Five  Nations  and  the  northern  boundary  of  New 

York 281 

Archibald  Kennedy's  pamphlet 282-293 

Letter  of  Major  Washington  to  Governor  Hamilton, 

April,  1754 294, 295 

The  influence  of  the  Iroquois  Confederation  upon  our 

form  of  government 296 

Religion  and  customs  of  the  Iroquois 297,  298 

Suggestions  for  Reading  or  Reference 299 

INDEX  .    305 


INTRODUCTION 
THE  POINT  OF  VIEW 


AMERICA 

IN 

ITS  RELATION  TO  THE  GREAT 
EPOCHS   OF  HISTORY 

INTRODUCTION 
THE  POINT   OF  VIEW 

I  HOLD  him  fortunate  who  is  possessed  of 
the  historical  imagination,  who  can  thus 
transport  himself  into  the  scenes  of  the  past 
and  live  for  the  time  being  in  those  epochs 
which  are  marked  by  magnificent  bounds  in 
the  world's  progress.  Such  a  favored  mortal 
may  escape  from  petty  cares  and  discomforts 
and,  in  catching  the  life  and  color  of  those 
glorious  eras  of  the  past,  not  only  better  under- 
stand his  own  era,  but  live  as  in  an  enchanted 
land  and  be  a  sharer  in  those  spiritual  impulses 
and  intellectual  quickenings  which  have  char- 
acterized man  at  his  best.  It  is  a  splendid 


4     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

heritage  to  enter  into.  We  as  Americans  are 
particularly  fortunate  in  the  ease  with  which 
we  can  scan  our  inheritance  and  in  the  point 
of  view  which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  we  can 
naturally  and  profitably  take.  For  the  great 
epochs  of  modern  history  are  identical  in 
point  of  time  with  the  epochs  of  our  own 
history  as  a  land  and  as  a  people. 

The  four  epochs  of  American  History  may 
be  denoted  by  the  dates  1492, 1620,  1788,  and 
1850.  The  first  is  the  epoch  of  the  Discovery 
of  America,  and  is  also  the  world-epoch  of  the 
Italian  Renaissance.  The  second  is  the  epoch 
of  the  Settlement  of  America  and  the  world- 
epoch  of  the  Reformation,  and  its  resulting 
conflicts  —  the  epoch  of  the  Christian  Renais- 
sance. The  third  is  the  epoch  of  the  Federal 
Convention  and  the  adoption  of  our  Constitu- 
tion, and  is  the  world-epoch  of  Revolution  and 
of  Illumination.  The  fourth  is  the  epoch  of 
Nullification,  of  Webster's  seventh  of  March 
speech,  of  the  events  leading  up  to  our  Civil 
War,  and  is  the  world-epoch  of  the  political 
reconstruction  of  Europe  and  of  the  general 
adoption  of  modern  methods  of  thought. 


THE  POINT   OF  VIEW  5 

Now  the  reasons  for  considering  these  epochs 
of  our  national  history  as  world-epochs  seem 
to  me  to  be  important  ones.  The  first  reason 
is  that  such  a  method  of  treatment  makes 
clearer  the  meaning  of  our  own  history.  We 
can  understand  better  what  the  discovery  of 
America  really  stands  for  when  we  catch  a 
picture  of  what  the  world  was  at  the  time  — 
when  we  see  the  events  and  causes  that  led  up 
to  the  discovery,  and  the  effect  it  produced  upon 
the  life  and  thought  of  the  world.  The  settle- 
ment of  America  will  have  for  us  a  more  vital 
meaning  when  we  watch  that  great  drama  of  a 
warring  and  discordant  world,  rent  with  relig- 
ious strifes  ;  fields  laid  waste  and  houses  deso- 
lated by  the  grim  hand  of  war,  the  drawn  sword 
hanging  over  all,  and  America  furnishing  a 
haven  and  a  home  for  the  struggling  and  well- 
nigh  exhausted  peoples  of  the  Old  World.  The 
adoption  of  our  Constitution,  the  founding  of 
our  national  fabric  of  government,  will  take  on 
its  true  meaning  and  significance  only  as  we 
regard  it  in  relation  to  the  European  thought 
and  action  of  the  times.  We  must  study  the 
return  to  nature,  the  social  theories  which 


6     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

found  in  Rousseau  so  brilliant  and  startling  an 
exponent,  we  must  watch  the  French  Revolu- 
tion blazing  fiercely  in  the  sky,  and  contrast 
it  with  the  calmer  deeps  of  German  thought  as 
typified  by  Immanuel  Kant,  if  we  would  really 
understand  the  impulses  that  entered  into  our 
national  being,  and  the  living  spirit  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  and  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States. 

The  epoch  of  nullification  and  of  the  Civil 
War  in  America  will  take  on  a  new  interest 
when  we  consider  it  in  connection  with  the  con- 
temporaneous political  reconstruction  of  Eu- 
rope and  with  the  world-currents  of  thought 
which  were  then  in  motion. 

A  second  reason  for  considering  the  epochs  of 
American  history  as  world-epochs  is  that  it 
brings  to  us  a  widening  of  the  mental  horizon. 
We  see  the  great  life  of  humanity  in  its  bounds 
of  progress  in  art,  in  science,  in  philosophy,  in 
religion.  History  becomes  to  us,  not  a  mere 
record  of  happenings  in  a  particular  country 
at  a  particular  time,  but  in  it  we  see  the  deal- 
ings of  God  with  man ;  we  watch  the  human 
spirit  reacting  to  the  impulses  that  are  con- 


THE  POINT   OF  VIEW  7 

tinually  pouring  in  upon  it  from  the  Divine ; 
we  see  the  prophet,  the  painter,  the  poet,  the 
man  of  God,  the  philosopher,  the  scientist,  the 
constructive  statesman  all  doing  their  work  and 
achieving  their  mission,  not  for  one  land  alone, 
but  for  all  lands,  for  the  general  uplifting  of 
mankind  everywhere. 

We  see  impulses  starting  in  one  land  spread- 
ing to  others,  where  with  different  racial  ten- 
dencies the  development  is  various  in  form  but 
substantially  the  same  in  substance,  until  at 
length  the  civilized  world  responds  to  that 
impulse  which  has  become  a  general  one  and 
moves  on  in  the  path  of  progress. 

With  this  world-view  of  history  we  regard 
mankind  as  a  unit,  as  an  individual,  and  watch 
him  in  his  periods  of  growth  and  of  retardation. 
We  see  him  catching  the  secrets  of  nature 
and  turning  them  to  his  use,  searching  out  the 
principles  of  government  and  applying  them  to 
his  social  needs,  hungry  for  beauty  and  ever 
striving  for  the  aesthetic,  born  for  freedom  and 
continually  shaking  off  tyrannies, —  above  all, 
born  for  God,  and  ever  restless,  ever  dissatisfied 
until  he  feels  himself  in  harmony  with  the 


8     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

Divine  plan  and  is  conscious  that  he  is  helping 
to  fulfil  the  Divine  purpose. 

A  third  reason  for  our  point  of  view  is  that 
it  is  cosmopolitan  instead  of  provincial;  that 
it  brings  us  into  closer  touch  with  the  other 
nations  and  shows  us  more  clearly  our  debt 
to  each.  In  the  Italy  of  the  Renaissance  we 
see  that  awakening  of  the  human  mind  and 
spirit  from  which  has  come  all  that  we  prize 
most  to-day.  The  progress  since  then  has  been 
steady,  and  it  has  all  been  part  of  the  one  great 
movement  ushered  in  by  the  genius  of  the 
Italian  mind  and  spirit.  In  the  Renaissance, 
Italy  was  for  the  third  time  the  centre,  the 
pivot  of  the  world's  life  ;  and  this  last  time  she 
centred  a  movement  which  we  like  to  think 
is  to  endure.  When  we  think,  then,  of  the 
discovery  of  America  from  this  world-point  of 
view,  we  must  always  think  of  Italy  with  admi- 
ration, with  love,  with  gratitude. 

Holland  and  England  are  the  nations  that 
with  this  cosmopolitical  gaze  especially  arrest 
our  attention  in  the  time  of  the  settlement  of 
America.  We  see  brave  little  Holland  hold- 
ing the  torch  of  liberty  firmly  in  her  grasp 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  9 

while  the  eager  waves  rush  gladly  to  her  de- 
fence in  her  struggle  against  tyranny.  We 
see  the  serene  countenance  and  catch  some- 
thing of  the  dauntless  spirit  of  the  hero  of  the 
Dutch  Republic.  "And  when  he  died  the 
little  children  cried  in  the  streets  "  —  so  was  it 
spoken  of  William  the  Silent. 

And  then  the  England  of  the  Christian  Re- 
naissance, of  the  English  Bible,  the  England 
whose  laws  and  liberties  we  have  inherited,  — 
how  must  our  hearts  be  filled  with  a  great 
affection  for  Holland  and  England,  and  how 
gladly  we  recognize  the  debt  we  owe  them,  as 
we  think  of  the  early  settlements  on  our  shores 
from  this  broader,  this  world-standpoint. 

France  and  Germany  are  the  nations  we 
peculiarly  associate  with  the  third  epoch  of 
our  national  history,  the  time  of  nationality. 
The  quick,  eager,  impulsive  French  mind,  stop- 
ping at  nothing  in  the  pursuit  of  its  ideals,  and 
the  German  mind  with  its  depth,  its  poise,  its 
thoroughness,  we  see  to  have  been  shaping 
forces  in  this  interesting  period  of  our  career 
as  a  people.  And  so  we  bow  in  gratitude  to 
France  and  Germany  and  feel  that  their  lessons 


10     AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

have  sunk  deep  into  our  hearts  and  into  our 
lives. 

When  we  consider  the  epoch  of  1850  we 
have  come  to  a  point  where  we  can  take  a 
somewhat  more  general  view,  and  can  see  what 
varied  streams  of  influence  have  flowed  into 
our  national  life  from  the  nations  of  the  Old 
World.  Switzerland,  with  its  republics  set  upon 
the  mountain  side ;  Ireland,  with  its  warm- 
hearted and  politically  acute  children;  Scot- 
land, Sweden,  Denmark,  —  what  country  is 
there  of  the  Old  World  that  has  not  sent  its 
quota  of  sons  and  daughters  to  help  found  the 
new  home  ?  They  are  in  our  schools,  in  our 
armies,  they  are  our  neighbors  and  friends. 
The  life  currents  of  the  nations  of  the  world 
are  flowing  through  our  veins.  We  have 
caught  something  of  the  spirit  of  each.  To 
each  we  owe  a  certain  debt;  to  each  we  are 
bound  by  that  closest  of  ties,  the  tie  of  blood. 

If  we  would  take  a  still  wider  view  we  may 
see  how  the  nations  of  the  past  have  contrib- 
uted to  our  heritage.  We  may  think  of 
Greece  and  Israel  as  the  food-leaves  of  history, 
of  Rome  as  the  great  unifying  and  law-giving 


THE  POINT   OF   VIEW  11 

force,  and  we  trace  the  influence  of  each  upon 
the  various  epochs  of  our  history.  Our  point 
of  view,  then,  is  distinctly  cosmopolitical,  and 
we  hold  it  to  be  of  no  small  advantage  to  as- 
sociate the  epochs  of  our  national  life  with  the 
nations  of  the  world,  and  to  render  to  each  and 
to  all  a  loving  tribute.  It  helps  to  give  us  a 
sense  of  the  unity  of  mankind,  of  the  universal 
brotherhood  of  the  human  race,  and  it  saves 
us  from  any  undue  self-gratulation  or  over- 
emphasis upon  our  own  national  importance. 

There  is  still  another  reason  for  considering 
our  national  epochs  as  world-epochs,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  to  us  as  individuals  it  is  the 
most  important  reason  of  all.  And  that  reason 
is  because  it  gives  us  a  central  point  for  our 
reading  and  for  our  thought.  Usually  our 
reading  scatters  fire  too  much.  We  have  no 
special  purpose  in  what  we  read,  no  definite 
central  points  around  which  to  make  our 
groupings,  nothing  particular  to  which  to  pin 
down  this  interesting  fact  or  the  thought  or 
conclusion  to  which  the  fact  leads  us. 

By  taking  these  four  epochs  of  our  national 
history  and  treating  them  thus  as  world- 


12 

epochs,  we  have  a  definite,  systematic,  well- 
articulated,  central  frame-work.  Everything 
we  read  will  find  its  proper  place,  and  we 
can  put  it  there  to  stay.  If  we  are  read- 
ing biography,  we  think  of  the  individual 
in  connection  with  one  of  these  epochs  or  in 
his  influence  upon  one  or  all  of  them.  We 
know  just  where  to  find  him.  If  we  are  read- 
ing the  history  of  art  or  literature  we  associate 
it  with  these  definite  epochs,  and  it  gives  us  a 
time-sense,  and  an  appreciation  of  relations.  If 
we  are  studying  philosophy  we  find  a  keen 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  in  seeing  what  system 
of  philosophy  is  dominant  in  one  of  these  given 
epochs  and  what  was  its  effect  upon  that 
epoch.  So  with  science,  so  with  the  history 
of  religion.  We  can  see  where  each  phase 
belongs  and  its  relation  to  other  phases. 

And  then  what  new  vistas  are  continually 
opening  up  before  us. 

Suppose  we  are  reading  of  Columbus  and  his 
voyages.  From  this  wider  point  of  view  we 
think  of  what  the  world  was  at  the  time,  we 
watch  with  joy  the  bound  in  art,  we  see  new 
inventions  springing  up  everywhere.  We  wish 


THE  POINT  OF  VIEW  13 

to  know  the  story  of  the  Moors  in  Spain.  We 
see  new  methods  of  thought  replacing  the  old 
scholasticism.  We  catch  the  impulse  of  the 
past  and  see  the  Hebrew  pages  interpreted  on 
the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel.  The  revival 
of  the  old  philosophy  and  the  bringing  to  light 
of  the  old  statues,  make  us  want  to  know  more 
about  the  glories  of  Greece  and  Rome. 

We  wish  to  know  what  the  Renaissance 
really  means,  what  it  really  stands  for.  No 
end  to  the  great  avenues  opening  out  before 
us.  And  yet  here  is  a  central  point — the  Dis- 
covery of  America.  Around  this  we  make 
our  groupings.  From  this  we  start  out  on 
various  quests  of  infinite  interest ;  to  this  we 
return  and  rest  and  reflect  and  draw  our  con- 
clusions. 

And  so  it  may  be  with  all  our  reading  and 
with  all  our  thoughts.  We  shall  find  new  in- 
terests, new  relations,  but  above  all,  definite, 
tangible  points  to  tie  to,  and  about  which  we 
can  form  a  coherent  and  helpful  body  of 
thought. 

This,  then,  is  our  point  of  view.  It  is  the 
considering  of  the  epochs  of  the  history  of 


14    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

America  as  world-epochs:  because,  first,  it 
makes  clearer  the  meaning  of  our  own  history ; 
because,  second,  it  brings  to  us  a  widening  of  the 
mental  horizon ;  because,  third,  it  is  a  cosmo- 
political  instead  of  a  narrow  or  provincial  point 
of  view ;  and,  fourth,  because  it  gives  to  us  as 
individuals  a  central  point  for  our  reading  and 
for  our  thought. 


I 

THE  ROMANCE   OF  THE   NEW  WORLD 


THE  ROMANCE   OF  THE  NEW  WORLD 

JUST   BEFORE   THE   DAWN 

YOUTH  is  always  interesting,  always 
delightful.  The  romance  of  the  New 
World  has  for  its  scene  the  Renaissance,  that 
time  of  the  new  birth,  of  the  youthful  bound 
of  the  human  spirit ;  that  time  in  which  is  to 
be  seen  what  Mr.  Symonds  calls  "  the  first 
transcendent  bloom  of  the  adolescence  of  the 
modern  world." 

It  is  usual,  speaking  in  a  rough  way,  to  con- 
sider the  period  of  the  Italian  Renaissance  as 
extending  from  about  the  year  1450  to  about 
the  year  1550.  But  before  daylight  comes 
the  dawn.  The  Renaissance  did  not  burst 
upon  the  world  with  a  sudden  dazzling  light, 
but  before  it  came  many  signs  of  the  morning. 
As  the  singing  of  birds  is  one  of  the  earliest 
signs  of  the  dawn  of  a  summer  morning,  so 


18     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

the  Renaissance  was  ushered  in  by  a  world 
bursting  into  song;  a  world  possessed  with  a 
passion  for  legend  and  romance ;  a  world 
listening  to  the  poetic  tales  of  chivalry  and 
to  the  story  of  the  old  Celtic  and  German 
mythical  heroes.  Some  of  us  are  familiar  with 
the  distributing  room  of  the  Boston  Public 
Library  and  have  been  interested  in  the  com- 
pletion of  the  splendid  series  of  designs  by 
Mr.  Abbey  illustrating  the  story  of  "The 
Quest  of  the  Holy  Grail."  Here  we  see  the 
child  Galahad,  brought  up  by  the  holy  nuns 
and  visited  by  the  dove  with  the  golden  cen- 
ser and  the  angel  bearing  the  Grail,  which,  as 
the  legend  runs,  was  the  sacred  vessel  from 
which  our  Lord  had  eaten  at  the  Last  Supper, 
and  in  which  had  been  subsequently  gathered 
by  Joseph  of  Arimathea  the  divine  blood  of 
his  wounds.  We  see  the  young  Galahad 
watching  alone  in  the  church  until  dawn,  keep- 
ing his  knightly  vigil ;  we  see  him  clad  in  red 
and  made  ready  for  departure  on  his  sacred 
mission  by  pure  and  brave  hands.  We  see  him 
installed  in  the  Seat  Perilous  which  none  be- 
fore him  had  occupied  in  safety,  and  over  which 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    19 

flashed  the  legend  "  This  is  the  seat  of  Gala- 
had." Then  Galahad  starts  forth  upon  his 
mission  and,  in  the  castle  of  Amfortas,  the  Grail 
procession  passes  before  him  and  he  fails  to 
ask  the  question  which  would  have  healed  the 
wounded  King  and  liberated  the  inhabitants  of 
the  castle. 

And  now,  starting  forth  again,  he  meets  the 
Loathly  Damsel,  he  fights  and  overcomes  the 
seven  knights  representing  the  Seven  Deadly 
Sins,  and  rescues  the  imprisoned  maidens.  He 
leaves  his  newly  wedded  wife  and  starting 
forth  again  on  his  quest  visits  once  more  the 
Grail  Castle  and  asks  the  question  that  heals 
the  wounded  Amfortas  and  allows  him  to  die 
in  peace.  And  now,  in  Solomon's  ship  and 
guided  by  the  angel  bearing  the  Grail,  he  sails 
to  the  mythical  city  of  Sarras,  and  there  at 
length  falls  on  his  knees  in  adoration  before 
the  sacred  Grail,  which  disappears  forever  into 
the  heavens. 

We  are  delighted  with  these  pictures,  gor- 
geous in  their  coloring,  rich  in  their  decorative 
effect,  and  conveying  a  sentiment  at  once  sacred 
and  inspiring.  They  transport  us  to  a  region 


20     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

of  romance,  to  the  days  of  King  Arthur  and  the 
Knights  of  the  Round  Table.  As  we  look  at 
them  we  catch  the  flavor  of  mediaeval  times. 
But  withal,  says  Mr.  Nutt,  in  his  Studies  on 
the  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,  "the  instinct 
which  led  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
thus  to  place  the  Arthurian  story  above  all 
others  was  a  true  one.  It  was  charged  with 
the  spirit  of  romance,  and  they  were  pre- 
eminently the  ages  of  the  romantic  temper." 
Originally  of  pagan  origin,  this  Grail  legend 
takes  on  its  Christian  form  in  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries ;  in  this  period  just  before 
the  dawn  of  the  Renaissance.  There  are  many 
versions  of  the  Grail  legend  and  of  the  Arthu- 
rian cycle.  While  a  Celtic  origin  is  generally 
claimed  for  them,  yet,  however  far  back  we  go, 
we  always  find  a  reference  to  some  prior  source, 
and  it  is  probable  that  there  is  some  remote 
origin  back  of  all.1 

The  "  Historia  Britonum,"  written  by  Geof- 
frey of  Monmouth  somewhere  about  1135  to 
1150,  furnished  the  material  for  a  group  of  story 

1  See  "  The  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,"  by  George  McLean 
Harper,  Bait.,  Modern  Language  Asso.  of  America,  1893. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  21 

writers  who  dealt  with  the  prophecies  of  Merlin 
and  the  legendary  early  kings  of  Britain.  The 
whole  atmosphere  of  the  period  breathes  with 
knights  and  fair  ladies,  with  King  Arthur  and 
his  companions  of  the  Round  Table,  with  Merlin 
and  his  witcheries.  There  is  a  strange  combi- 
nation of  romance,  religion,  and  voluptuous- 
ness. It  is  the  time  of  the  troubadours  and 
the  minnesingers,  the  time  of  the  French,  Pro- 
vengal,  German,  and  Sicilian  singers.  Medi- 
aeval love  is  revealed  with  all  its  glamour,  its 
unrealness,  and  its  frequent  sensuousness  and 
frank  materiality.  It  was  not  until  Dante  and 
his  "  Vita  Nuova  "  that  mediaeval  love  attained 
a  spiritual  expression  and  was  linked  with  phi- 
losophy —  that  gentle  lady  who  looked  so  pity- 
ingly from  her  window  and  whose  smiles 
brought  comfort. 

If  the  usual  expressions  of  mediaeval  love  are 
thus  somewhat  disappointing,  even  if  having  a 
certain  fascination,  the  same  is  not  true  of 
some  phases  of  the  religious  life  of  the  period. 
For  the  poetic  and  romantic  nature  of  a  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi,  we  have  a  feeling  of  unalloyed 
and  tender  interest  and  almost  affection.  Do 


22    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

you  suppose  he  ever  preached  that  sermon  to 
his  little  sisters  the  birds,  and  that  they  hov- 
ered about  him  until  he  dismissed  his  feathered 
congregation,  when  they  took  wing  with  grace- 
ful and  exquisite  carollings  ? 

Do  you  think  he  brought  that  big,  fierce  wolf, 
whom  he  called  his  brother,  into  better  ways 
and  into  peaceful  relations  with  the  commu- 
nity? I  cannot  say,  but  I  do  know  that  he 
loved  all  living  things,  and  that  they  loved 
him.  I  do  know  that  all  creatures  both  great 
and  small  were  his  brothers  and  his  sisters,  and 
that  the  good  God  above  was  his  Father,  and 
that  he  had  a  very  beautiful  and  intimate  rela- 
tion with  them  all.  All  the  stories,  legendary 
and  otherwise,  that  have  clustered  about  the 
memory  of  St.  Francis  make  us  love  him. 
And  we  love,  too,  Santa  Clara,  who,  inspired  by 
him,  devoted  herself  to  the  religious  life,  and 
became  the  founder  of  a  sister  order  to  the 
Franciscans.  The  passion  for  self-sacrifice,  the 
choosing  of  poverty,  the  glad,  joyous  life  of 
the  spirit  and  of  ministry  to  the  unhappy  and 
the  distressed  —  these  are  revelations  of  the 
possibilities  of  human  nature  when  touched  by 


THE  ROMANCE  OF   THE  NEW  WORLD    23 

the  Divine  that,  bodied  forth  in  these  early 
years  of  the  thirteenth  century,  east  a  certain 
glory  over  the  times. 

But  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
were  not  alone  the  period  of  mediaeval  love, 
of  the  weaving  of  romantic  legends,  of  a  some- 
what mystical,  but  withal  a  very  real  and  beau- 
tiful religious  life.  There  was  also  a  very 
practical  and  very  necessary  political  devel- 
opment. 

On  that  June  day  in  1215  King  John  met 
the  barons  assembled  at  Runnymede,  and  then 
and  there  in  a  single  day,  the  great  Charter  of 
English  liberties  was  wrested  from  the  unwill- 
ing King.  That  first  quarter  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  with  its  flavor  of  romance,  with  King 
Arthur  and  his  Round  Table,  with  St.  Francis 
and  an  ideally  beautiful  religious  life,  also 
shows  us  strong  men  struggling  for  their  liber- 
ties, and,  in  the  signing  of  Magna  Charta, 
furnishes  a  broad  foundation  for  the  English 
liberties  maintained  in  the  struggles  of  the 
succeeding  years. 

There  was  a  vital  connection  between  the 
literary  life  and  expression  and  the  struggle  for 


24    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

liberty  of  these  early  thirteenth-century  years. 
"  It  is,"  says  Mr.  Green,  "  by  no  mere  accident 
that  the  English  tongue  thus  wakes  again  into 
written  life  on  the  eve  of  the  great  struggle 
between  the  nation  and  its  King.  The  artificial 
forms  imposed  by  the  conquest  were  falling 
away  from  the  people  as  from  its  literature,  and 
a  new  England  quickened  by  the  Celtic  vivacity 
of  De  Map  and  the  Norman  daring  of  Gerald, 
stood  forth  to  its  conflict  with  John." 

The  first  Royal  proclamation  in  English  was 
issued  in  A.  D.  1258.  The  English  language 
was  coming  into  use  by  the  people  and  by 
the  court. 

In  the  following  century  we  find,  in  1362,  an 
order  made  that  all  court  proceedings  should 
be  conducted  in  English,  although  the  laws  and 
records  were  still  written  in  Latin  or  in  French. 
In  1363  the  Chancellor's  speech  in  Parliament 
was  given  in  English.  In  1382  was  completed 
Wycliffe's  English  translation  of  the  Bible.1 
This  was  the  great  accomplishment  of  the 
fourteenth  century,  and  its  results  were  far- 
reaching. 

1  Appendix,  Note  I. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    25 

Such  was  the  world  when,  almost  ready  to 
emerge  from  its  darkness,  it  awaited  the  dawn. 
Such  was  the  world  when  Cimabue,  the  great 
founder  of  modern  painting,  watched  that  boy 
Giotto  using  for  his.  canvas  the  smooth  surface 
of  the  rocks  in  the  field  and  saw  at  a  glance 
that  a  new  genius  was  born. 

Such  was  the  world  when  Dante,  the  morn- 
ing star,  the  herald  of  the  dawn,  sang  his 
immortal  cantos.  Giotto  painting  the  portrait 
of  Dante  !  —  how  it  brings  before  our  minds  art 
as  the  great  revealer  and  interpreter ;  art,  all- 
inclusive,  all-embracing;  art  which  breathes 
life  into  the  canvas  and  awakes  the  slumbering 
block  of  marble ;  art  which  expresses  itself 
in  song,  in  story,  in  poetry,  in  the  cathedral ; 
art  which  enkindles  the  constructive  imagina- 
tion and  inspires  it  to  the  highest  creations  in 
science  and  philosophy ;  art  so  many-sided, 
so  ever  varying,  and  yet  producing  always  the 
highest  unity.  Michael  Angelo,  when  asked 
which  art  he  preferred,  painting  or  sculpture, 
replied,  "  I  know  but  one  art." 

There  is  but  one  art.  It  is  the  expression  of 
harmony,  of  beauty,  of  the  aesthetic,  of  that  in 


26    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

man  which  links  him  with  the  divine.  You 
will  find  that  every  bound  in  human  progress 
is  the  result  of  an  impulse  from  art.  Study 
history  as  you  will  and  you  cannot  divorce  the 
aesthetic  from  any  step  in  the  progress  of  man- 
kind. Read  the  story  of  the  world  and  you  will 
find  art  always  the  inspirer,  ever  the  great  crea- 
tive force. 

It  is  through  art  that  the  world  receives  the 
lessons  it  would  otherwise  be  unwilling  to 
listen  to.  It  was  through  forms  of  art  that 
Dante  taught ;  so  it  was  with  Milton,  with  John 
Bunyan,  and  in  our  own  time  with  Harriet 
Beecher  Stowe.  When  the  time  is  ripe  another 
will  arise  and  show  to  the  world  the  vision  of 
peace  in  such  lines  of  harmony,  such  form  of 
beauty,  that  men  will  catch  the  lesson  and  turn 
away  in  disgust  and  horror  from  the  distorted 
and  ugly  countenance  of  war.  A  true  philos- 
ophy of  history  must  then  regard  art  as  the 
very  keystone  of  the  arch  of  human  progress. 
It  must  listen  to  the  revelation  of  beauty,  of 
harmony,  in  things  material  and  things  spirit- 
ual, and  thus  be  led  to  a  grasp  of  the  higher, 
the  perfect  unity.  And  thinking  thus  of  the 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    27 

divine  artist  moulding  man  into  lines  of  propor- 
tion and  harmony,  we  must  feel  that  there  is  a 
saving  unity  somewhere.  We  can  think  of 
John  Wycliffe  born  almost  the  same  year  that 
Dante  died  and  scattering  the  seeds  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  We  can  think  of  the  men  of 
God  who  so  long  preserved  the  sacred  manu- 
scripts in  their  monasteries,  and  who  in  their 
cells  were  among  the  earliest  to  copy  Virgil 
and  Cicero  and  Horace,  and  to  foster  the  learn- 
ing which  was  to  open  the  secrets  of  nature  as 
well  as  to  bring  back  the  Bible  to  us  ;  of  Dante 
knocking  at  the  friendly  gates  of  a  convent 
that  he  might  leave  his  priceless  cantos  in  safe 
and  intelligent  keeping ;  of  the  weary  and  well- 
nigh  hopeless  Columbus  finding  at  La  Rabida 
the  refreshment  and  assistance  elsewhere  denied 
him ;  of  the  first  book  printed  in  Italy  receiving 
the  impress  of  the  type  within  the  walls  of  a 
monastery.  And  thinking  thus  we  can  come 
to  feel  that  there  is  a  higher  harmony  and 
beauty  working  itself  out  through  all  the  differ- 
ing thoughts  and  expressions  of  men,  and  that 
through  it  all  the  world  has  ever  been  moulded, 
is  ever  being  moulded  into  lines  of  symmetry 


28     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

and  unity.  The  age  of  the  Renaissance  was 
typically  an  age  of  art,  was  ushered  in  by  art, 
was  permeated  and  saturated  with  art,  and 
has  sent  its  artistic  impulse  down  to  us  through 
the  centuries. 

We  look  with  joy  upon  these  figures  of 
Giotto  and  Dante  emerging  from  the  shadows 
of  the  middle  ages !  What  a  free  and  bold 
spirit  was  that  of  Dante  !  The  freeing  of  the 
human  mind  and  spirit  was  the  great  work  of 
the  Italian  Renaissance ;  and  yet  we  can  seem 
to  understand  something  of  that  harmony  which 
Dante  meant  when  he  tells  us  that  "  his  desire 
and  will  were  without  strain  or  jar  revolved 
henceforth  by  that  same  Love  that  moves  the 
sun  and  all  the  other  stars." 

With  Dante  and  these  men  of  the  early 
Renaissance  came  a  new  feeling  for  nature. 
Dante  caught  "  the  trembling  light  on  the  dis- 
tant sea."  He  climbed  to  the  tops  of  moun- 
tains that  he  might  behold  the  outstretched 
panorama. 

Together  with  the  figures  of  Giotto  and 
Dante  a  third  form  emerges  from  the  shadows. 
It  is  a  form  endued  with  a  restless  activity ; 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  29 

the  countenance  shines  with  a  great  enthusiasm. 
It  is  Petrarch  ;  he  who  has  been  called  the 
restorer  of  Hellenic  literature  in  Western 
Europe.  It  is  Petrarch ;  he  who  on  his  jour- 
neys turned  aside  to  each  monastery  that  he 
saw  in  the  distance  and  made  within  its  walls 
a  careful  search  for  some  precious  manuscript 
that  might  contain  a  classical  masterpiece  of  the 
past.  It  is  Petrarch,  the  first  humanist;  he 
who  showed  to  men  once  more  the  joyousness 
and  beauty  of  this  human  life  of  ours ;  he  who 
lived  on  such  intimate  terms  of  companionship 
with  Horace  and  Homer  that  he  wrote  to  them 
his  letters  as  if  indeed  they  were  then  in  the 
land  of  the  mortals;  he  who  saw  the  vision,  who 
recognized  the  wide  mission  of  the  poetic,  the 
sesthetic,  who  caught  the  sense  of  unity,  so  that 
he  wrote,  in  that  theological  age,  "  One  may 
almost  say  that  theology  actually  is  poetry, 
poetry  concerning  God ; "  who  held  to  the 
vision  of  beauty  and  knew  that  it  compre- 
hended all,  interpreted  all. 

We  find  in  Petrarch  that  same  feeling  for 
nature  which  we  noted  in  Dante.  Petrarch 
too,  loved  to  look  off  from  the  summit  of  moun- 


30    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

tain  peaks.  Burkhardt  relates  of  him  that  he 
took  his  younger  brother  with  him  in  the  ascent 
of  one  such,  and  having  reached  the  summit 
opened  a  book  —  it  was  the  Confessions  of  St. 
Augustine  —  and  read  to  his  brother  this  pas- 
sage :  "  And  men  go  forth  and  admire  lofty 
mountains  and  broad  seas,  and  roaring  torrents, 
and  the  ocean,  and  the  course  of  the  stars,  and 
forget  their  own  selves  while  doing  so." 

Petrarch  was  possessed  of  that  eager  desire 
for  the  accumulation  of  ancient  manuscripts 
and  books  which  has  led  him  to  be  called  the 
restorer  of  Hellenic  literature  in  Western 
Europe.  Far  and  wide  he  made  his  quests. 
"  When  I  was  on  a  journey,"  he  tells  us,  "  if  I 
happened  to  see  an  ancient  monastery  in  the 
distance,  I  would  turn  aside  to  it,  for  'who 
knows,'  said  I  within  myself,  '  but  that  here  I 
may  find  what  I  desire  ?  ' ' 

Petrarch  has  been  called  the  first  humanist. 
His  was  the  spirit  of  Italian  humanism,  that 
spirit  which  became  dominant  in  the  opening 
years  of  the  fifteenth  century.  During  one  of 
the  intermissions  of  the  Council  of  Constance, 
Poggio,  the  apostolic  secretary,  starts  out  upon 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    31 

his  romantic  journey  in  the  search  of  manu- 
scripts, in  the  year  1416.  Journeying  far  and 
long,  regardless  of  fatigue  and  of  the  severities 
of  the  weather,  he  made  his  famous  quest  and 
gathered  material  of  such  interest  and  value 
that  the  most  active  enthusiasm  was  aroused 
among  the  scholars  of  the  time.  This  control- 
ling literary  impulse  reached  Rome  itself.  As 
early  as  1406  we  find  Pope  Innocent  VII. 
endeavoring  to  re-establish  the  Roman  Univer- 
sity and  declaring  his  wish  to  bring  back  the 
restoration  of  long-neglected  studies  u  in  order," 
as  he  says,  "  that  learning  might  lead  men  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth  and  teach  them  to 
obey  God  and  the  laws." 

Thomas  of  Sarzana,  who  became  Pope  Nicho- 
las V.,  was  a  typical  scholar,  and  his  court 
became  one  of  classical  letters  and  refinement. 
By  him  were  gathered  about  five  thousand 
books  which  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  Vatican 
Library.  Not  long  after  him  came  Pius  II.,  also 
imbued  with  the  spirit  for  classical  learning, 
having  been  the  pupil  at  Florence  of  Francisco 
Filelfo.  Pope  Pius  was  himself  an  author  of 
no  mean  merit,  and  inspired  the  literary  life 


32    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

about  him  by  works  of  poetry,  philosophy, 
geography  and  fiction,  which  he  contributed 
to  the  era. 

Here  ends  the  period  of  manuscript  bibliog- 
raphy in  Italy.  In  1465,  at  the  Benedictine 
monastery  of  Subiaco,  was  printed  the  first 
book  on  Italian  soil.  Of  course,  books  had  been 
printed  on  German  soil  some  years  earlier. 

1492. 

We  have  lingered  over  this  early  dawn  of 
the  Renaissance,  but  the  sun  is  rising  high  in 
the  heavens  and  the  full  noontide  glory  of  the 
Renaissance  is  at  hand.  Those  piercing  shafts 
of  light  are  soon  to  dart  through  the  darkness 
of  that  sea  of  night  and  point  men  to  the  await- 
ing continent  which  shall  soon  be  revealed  in 
all  its  beauty  and  its  opportunities. 

America  and  the  great  epochs  of  history. 
How  inseparably  is  America  associated  with 
this  great  epoch  of  the  Italian  Renaissance. 
A  world  awakening  from  its  sleep  is  to  be 
completed  by  that  other  self  which  the  divine 
hand  shall  place  by  its  side.  It  is  to  be  rounded 


33 

into  completeness  by  the  discovery  of  that 
missing  hemisphere.  The  narrow,  pent-up 
gaze  which  could  not  see  beyond  the  con- 
fines of  the  Mediterranean  is  to  extend  its 
horizon,  and  the  mental  life  of  mankind  is  to 
be  wonderfully  quickened  by  the  broader  view. 
The  poets  had  long  been  the  prophets. 
Petrarch  sang  of :  — 

"  The  daylight  hastening  with  winged  steps 
Perchance  to  gladden  the  expectant  eyes 
Of  far-off  nations  in  a  world  remote." 

Pulci,  another  Italian  poet,  is   even   more 
explicit : 

"  Know  that  this  theory  is  false  ;  his  bark 
The  daring  mariner  shall  urge  far  o'er 
The  western  wave,  a  smooth  and  level  plain, 
Albeit  the  earth  is  fashioned  like  a  wheel. 
Man  was  in  ancient  days  of  grosser  mould, 
And  Hercules  might  blush  to  learn  how  far 
Beyond  the  limits  he  had  vainly  set, 
The  dullest  sea-boat  soon  shall  wing  her  way. 

"  Men  shall  descry  another  hemisphere  ; 
Since  to  one  common  centre  all  things  tend, 
So  earth  by  curious  mystery  divine 
Well  balanced  hangs  amid  the  starry  spheres. 
3 


34    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

At  our  antipodes  are  cities,  states, 
And  thronged  empires,  ne'er  divined  of  yore. 
But  see,  the  sun  speeds  on  his  western  path 
To  glad  the  nations  with  expected  light." 

In  the  Boston  Art  Museum  is  a  slender, 
youthful  figure  wrought  in  marble,  reclining 
in  a  graceful  attitude  at  the  edge  of  an  old 
pier  and  gazing  out  upon  the  waters.  It  is  the 
boy  Columbus.  There  is  a  rapt  intentness 
in  the  face,  and  the  look  is  far  away  and 
beyond,  as  if  by  divination  resting  on  other 
waters  and  other  lands  yet  unknown  to  men ! 

And  so  the  boy,  it  may  be,  looked  dreamily 
out  upon  the  Mediterranean  either  from  the 
shore  or  from  one  of  the  lower  hilltops  of 
the  Ligurian  Alps,  upon  which  Genoa  the 
superb  is  built ;  and  who  shall  say  what 
thoughts,  what  hopes,  what  aspirations  may 
have  been  in  that  young  mind  ?  For  the  vision 
of  youth  is  the  prophecy  of  the  accomplishment 
of  the  man,  and  to  a  richly  endowed  nature, 
gifted  with  insight  and  with  intuition  of  great 
truths,  come  these  early  flashes  of  light,  these 
almost  trance-like  lockings  into  the  future. 
The  boy,  become  a  man,  is  that  God-sent 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  35 

mariner  who  in  the  familiar  year  1492  gave 
to  the  world  America.  Let  us  take  this  date 
1492  and  try  to  picture  to  ourselves  the  world 
of  that  time. 

The  cradle  of  the  new  world  was  rocked 
amid  scenes  at  once  romantic  and  interesting. 
At  what  a  picturesque  and  fascinating  period 
of  Spanish  history  did  Columbus  arrive  at 
Cordova  in  1485.  The  pomp  and  magnificence 
of  war  were  everywhere.  The  glistening  of 
armor,  the  flash  of  scimitars,  the  clash  of 
shields,  the  gathering  ranks  of  Spanish 
chivalry  proudly  arrayed,  the  bustle,  the  stir, 
the  din,  all  betokened  active  and  impatient 
preparation  for  advance  upon  the  infidels.  At 
such  a  moment  and  amid  such  scenes  did 
Columbus  come  to  the  coldly  acute  and  intel- 
lectual Ferdinand  and  the  more  fervent  and 
generous  Isabella,  with  his  offer  of  a  new 
world.  Following  the  Spanish  court  from 
place  to  place  Columbus  was  not  only  a  wit- 
ness of  the  magnificent  struggles  of  the  Spanish 
nobility  with  the  haughty  and  defiant  Moors, 
but  was  himself  a  gallant  participant  in  many 
of  these  stirring  scenes.  When  at  length  the 


36    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

lofty  and  splendid  city  of  Granada,  the  seat  of 
universities  and  of  the  highest  civilization  then 
known,  the  last  Mohammedan  stronghold,  ca- 
pitulated to  the  followers  of  the  banner  of  the 
cross,  Columbus  was  there  to  witness  that  ever 
memorable  event. 

The  morning  signal-guns  have  boomed  from 
the  fortress  of  the  Alhambra,  announcing  that 
the  hour  of  surrender  is  at  hand.  With  pomp 
and  magnificence  the  Spanish  retinue  is  ad- 
vancing from  the  besieging  city  of  Santa  Fe. 
The  banner  of  the  cross  and  the  victorious 
standards  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  have 
been  planted  far  up  upon  the  heights.  How 
they  glisten  in  the  morning  sunlight!  The 
keys  of  the  city  have  been  delivered  to  the 
conquerors;  and  now  on  his  winding  moun- 
tain path,  Boabdil  the  unlucky  turns  to  look 
for  the  last  time  upon  the  ancient  city  of 
Granada.  The  eight  hundred  years  of  Moslem 
domination  have  passed.  The  Spanish  nation, 
strengthened  and  developed  by  a  long  season  of 
conflict  and  hardship,  and  aroused  by  a  passion- 
ate religious  fervor  almost  unequalled  in  his- 
tory, has  excelled  itself  in  deeds  of  chivalry 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  37 

and  valor,  and  at  length  has  driven  the  invader 
from  the  lofty  heights  of  his  last  stronghold. 
These  are  the  splendid  pages  of  Spanish  his- 
tory. But  the  cold  fact  remains  that  by  her 
subsequent  treatment  of  the  Moors,  by  driving 
out  from  the  country  her  most  skilled  artisans, 
her  most  productive  laborers,  Spain  prepared 
the  way  for  her  rapid  decline. 

In  both  Spain  and  Portugal  this  was  a  tune 
of  geographical  investigation  and  exploration. 
All  the  cosmographical  works  of  the  ancients 
were  now  eagerly  ransacked  and  searched. 
Six  Latin  editions  of  Ptolemy  were  published 
between  1472  and  1490.  Especially  in  Portu- 
gal was  there  a  prevailing  zeal  for  the  study 
of  geography  and  navigation,  and  under  the 
enthusiastic  leadership  and  direction  of  Prince 
Henry  the  work  went  brilliantly  on.  The 
astrolabe  is  adapted  to  navigation  so  that  the 
mariner  can  estimate  his  distance  from 
the  equator  by  ascertaining  the  altitude  of 
the  sun.  Maps  and  charts  are  revised  and 
reconstructed.  The  compass  is  brought  into 
general  use. 

And  now  that  we  are  speaking  of  the  com- 


38    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

pass  we  must  note  as  one  of  the  important 
features  of  this  world  of  1492,  the  series  of 
great  inventions  which  were  then  coming  to 
exert  their  influence  upon  the  life  of  mankind. 
Gunpowder,  the  mariner's  compass,  and  the  art 
of  printing  were  of  themselves  sufficient  to 
revolutionize  the  life  of  mankind  and  to  bring 
about  a  new  era.  Feudalism  received  its  death- 
blow when  those  little  black  grains  of  powder 
came  into  use.  Gunpowder  was  a  wonderful 
leveler.  By  the  aid  of  the  compass  the  mariner 
found  his  way  across  what  had  been  the  track- 
less seas ;  commerce  was  extended ;  America 
was  discovered.  The  art  of  printing  was 
introduced  at  just  the  right  time  to  extend 
the  knowledge  of  the  classics  that  were  then 
being  rediscovered  and  to  acquaint  men  with 
the  new  thoughts  and  new  inventions  of  these 
times.  Now  each  of  these  three  great  inven- 
tions of  gunpowder,  the  mariner's  compass, 
and  printing,  has  its  history.  They  were 
probably  all  of  them  known  to  the  Chinese. 
Thus  the  Chinese  had  their  south-pointing 
carts  at  a  very  early  date,  and  knew  of  the 
variation  of  the  compass  as  early  as  the  llth 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    39 

century  and  probably  before,  according  to  Mr. 
Park  Benjamin, l  —  the  first  authentic  descrip- 
tion of  a  Chinese  marine  compass  being  found, 
however,  in  a  work  written  in  1297. 

That  Dante  knew  of  the  compass  we  learn  by 
the  lines  in  which  he  speaks  of 

"  A  voice 

That  made  me  seem  like  needle  to  the  star 
In  turning  to  its  whereabouts." 

Without  going  into  the  niceties  of  their 
origin  it  is  sufficient  for  us  to  note  that  for  all 
practical  purposes  and  for  the  use  of  the  modern 
world  each  of  these  inventions  dates  from  the 
time  of  the  Renaissance. 

If  this  world  of  1492,  this  world  stimulated 
by  inventions,  shows  to  us  Spain  and  Portugal 
as  important  and  interesting  factors,  yet  the 
full  glory  of  the  period  centred  in  Italy.  It  is 
the  Italy  of  the  Renaissance.  It  is  here  that 
mankind  awaking  from  his  sleep  looks  most 
joyously  about  him.  He  beholds  the  glories 
which  his  hitherto  closed  eyelids  have  shut 
out.  Nature  appears  to  him  beautiful  and  fair. 

1  See  Intellectual  Rise  in  Electricity,  by  Park  Benjamin, 
p.  189. 


40    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

The  youth  and  freshness  of  the  Grecian  spirit 
return  to  him  again.  He  is  inspired  by  the 
masterpieces  of  the  past,  which  he  now  learns 
to  know  and  loves  to  study.  He  feels  the  new 
impulse  and  bound  from  within  emancipating 
his  mind  and  freeing  his  spirit.  Dante,  poet 
and  seer,  precursor  and  herald  of  the  dawn, 
speaks  to  him.  He  sees  Dante  with  Virgil 
as  his  companion  in  those  weird  and  terrifying 
journeys  through  horror  and  misery  until  they 
emerge  from  the  blackness  and  behold  the 
stars  once  more  shining  above  them  in  the 
heavens.  Dante  and  Virgil  become  his  guides 
and  his  companions  through  the  fairer  and 
brighter  scenes  which  are  about  him.  The 
glories  of  Greece  and  Rome  for  him  revive 
again.  He  is  stimulated  and  strengthened 
by  the  lofty  records  of  what  man  has  done. 
The  story  of  the  heroes  of  the  past  enkindles 
within  him  a  like  heroic  spirit. 

It  is  the  Renaissance,  the  age  of  art.  Italy 
is  now  a  magic  land.  It  is  the  time  of  the 
Medicis,  the  wondrous  age  of  Raphael  and  of 
Michael  Angelo.  That  divine  touch  which 
we  call  genius  is  operating  upon  and  springing 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    41 

up  within  the  minds  of  men,  and  life  is  enriched 
and  beautified  by  the  sculptor,  the  painter, 
and  the  poet.  The  rough  block  of  marble 
under  the  master's  touch  pulses  into  life, 
and  when  the  cunning  chisel  has  wrought  its 
work  forth  leaps  the  majestic  creation. 

The  bare  and  meaningless  canvas  learns  to 
catch  the  witchery  of  the  Mona  Lisa  smile, 
or  is  irradiated  and  glorified  by  the  matchless 
beauty  and  tenderness  of  the  Sistine  Madonna. 

And  the  light  of  the  Renaissance,  from  its 
first  dawn  to  its  full  orbed  splendor,  fell  no- 
where so  lovingly  as  on  Florence.  Here  Dante 
sang.  Here  Ghiberti  wrought  his  gates  and 
Brunelleschi  threw  his  dome  over  Santa  Maria 
del  Fiore.  Here  Donatello  shaped  his  marble 
faun.  As  Athens  was  Greece,  so  Florence  was 
Italy.  And  nowhere  in  Florence  was  so  en- 
chanted ground  as  the  San  Marco  gardens  of 
Lorenzo  the  Magnificent. 

We  can  fancy  ourselves  walking  in  these 
gardens  and  watching  that  youth  chiselling  the 
masque  of  a  faun.  An  open  copy  of  Dante's 
"  Divine  Comedy  "  is  lying  on  a  bench  by  his 
side,  as  if  he  had  just  been  glancing  at  it. 


42    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

About  him  in  the  garden  are  some  of  the 
wonderful  masterpieces  of  Grecian  sculpture 
which  have  been  dug  up  from  the  willing 
earth,  eagerly  parting  to  disclose  the  treasures 
it  knows  it  has  concealed  too  long.  Groups  of 
artists  and  scholars  are  walking  about  drinking 
in  the  inspiration  from  these  splendid  creations 
of  the  world's  first  youth,  and  discussing  the 
newly  revived  philosophies  of  Plato  and  Aris- 
totle. It  is  Michael  Angelo,  now  a  youth  of 
eighteen,  taking  his  early  lessons  in  art  under 
the  special  patronage  of  the  great  Lorenzo  him- 
self. Others  there  are  of  his  own  age,  the  veiy 
flower  of  the  Florentine  youth,  also  pursuing 
their  studies  in  these  wonderful  gardens  of 
San  Marco.  Raphael,  now  a  boy  of  twelve, 
is  soon  to  be  in  Florence,  and  his  genius  is  to 
grow  into  its  exquisite  proportions  among  these 
delightful  and  stimulating  scenes.  How  much 
there  was  to  talk  about  by  these  eager  students 
in  their  garden  walks.  They  discuss  the  con- 
quest of  Granada  and  smile  over  the  weakness 
of  Boabdil  the  Unlucky.  Perhaps  they  wish 
themselves  amid  those  exciting  scenes.  They 
hear  of  the  generous  act  of  Isabella  in  pledging 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    43 

her  jewels  that  at  length,  after  all  these  weary 
wanderings  and  years  of  waiting,  Columbus 
may  make  his  voyages  in  search  of  the  ex- 
pected Indies.  They  talk  over  the  probable 
outcome  of  that  voyage.  Perhaps  they  look 
over  together  one  of  those  six  Latin  editions 
of  Ptolemy  which  had  been  published  within 
the  last  few  years.  Or,  on  a  pleasant  evening, 
they  may  have  sat  together  discussing  the  great 
changes  that  have  been  wrought  by  the  inven- 
tions of  the  recent  years :  the  help  the  com- 
pass and  the  astrolabe  will  be  to  Columbus, 
the  wonderful  difference  in  the  methods  of 
warfare  that  gunpowder  has  brought  about; 
how  printing  and  paper  have  made  the  thoughts 
of  their  own  time  and  of  all  ages  so  accessible 
to  them.  If  Copernicus,  that  youth  of  nineteen 
in  1492,  was  with  them  I  am  sure  he  looked  up 
into  those  starry  Italian  skies  and  dreamed  his 
dreams  of  those  majestic  and  orderly  revolu- 
tions of  the  celestial  orbs  and  began  to  think 
out  the  great  system  which  he  was  a  few  years 
later  to  explain  to  the  world. 

Perhaps  they  talked  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  in 
this  year  1492  a  man  of  forty,  in  the  full  glory 


44    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

of  his  powers.  Some  of  them  very  likely  had 
met  Erasmus,  who  has  now  reached  the  age 
of  twenty-five.  None  of  them  has  heard  of 
that  boy  of  nine  who  was  born  in  1483  —  that 
boy  Martin  Luther. 

There  is  a  joy  in  very  youth  itself.  The 
bounding  pulse  and  high  health,  the  leaping 
imagination,  the  dreams  undimmed  by  stern 
experience !  But  to  be  young  in  that  time  of 
the  new  youth  of  the  world,  to  be  young  in 
Florence  itself,  to  be  young  and  in  those 
enchanted  gardens  of  Lorenzo  —  the  gods 
might  sigh  to  come  down  to  earth  for  such  a 
youth. 

FOOD-LEAVES  OF  HISTORY. 

How  manifest  is  the  influence  of  Greece  and 
Israel  upon  this  wonderfu]  Italy  of  the  Renais- 
sance. As  each  succeeding  spring-time  is  with 
us  again,  we  may  walk  out  in  our  gardens  and 
see  the  earth  cracking  to  make  way  for  the  first 
tiny  shoots  of  green  ;  and  we  know  that  a  great 
principle  of  life  and  growth  is  at  work,  and  we 
can  watch  its  methods.  As  we  observe  the 
unfolding  of  the  first  leaves  and  study  their 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE   NEW  WORLD    45 

career,  we  see  that  these  first  appearing  leaves 
are  not  usually  the  permanent  type,  but  that 
they  are  cotyledons  or  food-leaves  which  give 
strength  and  sustenance  to  the  plant.  They 
die  and  pass  away  in  giving  life  to  the  plant  and 
are  succeeded  by  the  type  of  leaf  which  is  to  be 
the  final  and  prevailing  one.  Considering,  then, 
Greece  and  Israel  as  the  food-leaves,  the  coty- 
ledons of  history,  we  may  trace  their  nutritive 
influence  upon  the  epochs  of  modern  history. 
Greece,  inspired  by  beauty,  worshipping  beauty, 
gave  to  the  world  not  only  art,  but  science  and 
philosophy.  She  not  only  revealed  beauty,  but 
she  opened  the  understanding  and  made  clear 
the  great  principles  of  moral  and  political  de- 
velopment. Art  was  the  great  inspirer,  the 
great  interpreter,  that  called  Greece  to  her 
mission  and  taught  her  how  to  teach  the  world. 
Thinking  now  of  the  influence  of  these  food- 
leaves  of  history  upon  the  world,  upon  the 
Italy  of  the  Renaissance,  we  find  and  can  see 
clearly  and  vividly  how  Greece  revives  again 
in  this  epoch  of  the  Renaissance,  in  this  won- 
derful time  of  the  new  birth  of  the  world  and 
of  the  birth  of  our  own  new  Western  World. 


46    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

How  art  and  beauty  leap  again  into  life  !  How 
do  the  sculptor,  the  painter,  and  the  poet  vie 
with  the  masterpieces  of  Grecian  art  and  liter- 
ature. How  are  the  classic  statues  of  the  past 
exhumed  and  brought  forth  from  their  hiding- 
places  to  be  the  inspiration  of  Michael  Angelo, 
of  Raphael,  of  the  glorious  group  of  artists  of 
the  Renaissance. 

So  too,  the  masterpieces  of  Greek  and  Roman 
literature  are  brought  out  from  the  friendly 
sheltering-places  of  the  convent  and  the  monas- 
tery, where  they  have  so  long  lain  hidden  in 
oblivion,  and  Homer  and  Virgil  again  sing  their 
songs  as  the  Western  Continent  opens  up  a  new 
hope  and  a  new  aspiration  for  the  awakened 
and  eager  minds  of  men.  Again  do  Plato  and 
Aristotle  teach  the  people ;  again  does  science 
look  with  a  questioning  and  exploring  eye  into 
the  mysteries  of  nature  and  seek  their  solution. 
Copernicus  studies  the  great  laws  governing 
the  starry  heavens ;  gunpowder,  printing,  and 
paper  come  into  use ;  the  compass  points  out 
the  path  across  the  unknown  waters.  In  Flor- 
ence, Athens  springs  into  life  again,  and  we 
see  the  youthful  joyousness  and  beauty  of  the 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  47 

Grecian  spirit  once  more  revived.  And  how 
clearly  may  we  see  the  influence  of  this  other 
initial  or  food-leaf,  Israel,  in  this  epoch  of  the 
Renaissance,  this  epoch  of  the  discovery  of 
America. 

Strange  is  it  to  note  how  these  two  leaves, 
these  historical  cotyledons,  seemingly  so  unlike, 
yet  have  united  their  life-giving  forces  in  this 
new  plant  of  civilization  taking  its  definite  and 
coherent  shape  in  this  time  of  the  discovery  of 
man  by  himself,  this  time  of  the  discovery  of 
a  new  continent. 

Israel !  how  manifest  is  its  impulse  upon 
this  newly  awakening  world.  A  brilliant  writer 
has  said  that  "  the  ceiling  of  the  Sistine  Chapel 
is  the  only  translation  worthy  of  certain  pages 
of  the  Hebrew  Bible ;  that  Michael  Angelo  is 
the  only  artist  who  could  interpret  the  Jahvist, 
for  he  is  truly  his  brother  in  genius."  The  art 
of  the  Renaissance,  of  the  time  of  the  discovery 
of  America,  is  not  alone  a  fit  interpreter  of  the 
wonderful  pages  of  the  Hebrew  writers,  but  we 
find  now  for  the  first  time  the  human  soul 
speaking  out  through  the  canvas  as  it  first  spoke 
in  the  consciousness  of  Israel.  The  Moses  of 


48    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Michael  Angelo  and  the  Sistine  Madonna  are 
crowning  illustrations  of  the  fact  that  the 
Renaissance  caught  its  inspiration  not  less  from 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  and  from  the  cradle  at 
Bethlehem  than  from  Grecian  art,  philosophy, 
and  letters. 

THE  FOREST  IMPULSE  AND  THE  EEAL  HIAWATHA. 

Let  us  turn  to  another  picture.  While 
Florence  and  all  Italy  were  bathed  in  the 
glories  of  the  Renaissance  a  wonderful  new 
impulse  was  stirring  in  the  forests  of  the  as  yet 
undiscovered  America.  It  may  seem  a  start- 
ling statement  to  those  unacquainted  with  the 
facts,  but  the  first  confederated  government  in 
America  was  successfully  organized  while  the 
old  world  was  dreaming  only  of  Asiatic  prov- 
inces that  might  by  a  faint  possibility  be 
found  beyond  the  waste  of  waters. 

Longfellow's  beautiful  poem  has  made  the 
name  of  Hiawatha  familiar  to  us,  but  perhaps  we 
do  not  all  realize  that  such  a  man  actually  lived, 
that  he  was  the  first  .peace  hero  and  prophet  of 
America,  and  that  he  founded  the  Iroquois 
Confederacy,  which,  under  the  name  of  "  The 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    49 

Five  Nations,"  played  so  important  a  part  in 
our  early  history.  Probably  about  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  century  a  crafty,  fierce,  and  war- 
loving  chief  named  Atotahro  had  sway  over 
the  Onondagas,  who  were  in  possession  of  the 
lake  of  that  name,  of  Lake  Skaneateles,  and 
of  the  Oswego  River.  The  neighboring  tribes 
were  terrorized  by  his  bold  and  successful 
onslaughts,  and  rival  chiefs  and  enemies  were 
removed  by  his  murderous  machinations.  So 
great  was  his  reputation  for  subtlety  and  arti- 
fice that  he  was  called  "  the  wizard."  His 
reign  was  a  reign  of  terror,  and  no  man 
dared  say  him  nay.  No  man  save  one,  and 
he  a  chief  of  high  degree,  called  Hiawatha  — 
which  means  "  he  who  seeks  the  wampum 
belt."  Distinguished  for  mildness  and  benev- 
olence, he  was  beloved  by  his  tribe  and  had 
been  spared  by  even  the  terrible  Atotahro. 
This  gentle,  high-minded,  and  farseeing  Hia- 
watha, whether  taught  by  the  quiet  ministra- 
tions of  nature  about  him,  by  that  inner  voice 
that  speaks  as  from  the  Deity  himself,  or  by 
both  combined,  had  conceived  the  plan  of  a 
great  confederation  which  should  bring  about 


50    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

a  universal  peace.  It  was  Hiawatha's  thought 
that,  starting  with  the  tribes  about  him,  a  fed- 
eration should  be  formed  to  which  from  time 
to  time  other  tribes  might  be  joined  until 
finally  all  should  be  united  in  a  bond  which 
would  make  war  no  longer  possible.  And  so 
this  peace  hero  of  the  American  forests  calls 
together  the  chiefs  and  members  of  his  own 
Onondaga  tribe  that  he  may  secure  their 
adhesion  to  his  plan.  With  an  eloquence 
and  wealth  of  imagery  natural  to  the  red 
man  of  America,  he  presents  his  views  and 
argues  in  favor  of  the  proposed  confedera- 
tion which  he  has  so  much  at  heart.  But 
the  terrible  Atotahro  strides  in  upon  the  gath- 
ering, and  his  forbidding  presence  and  known 
disapproval  of  the  measures  under  discussion 
are  sufficient  to  strike  terror  into  the  assembly 
and  cause  it  to  dissolve  without  coming  to  any 
result.  Again  does  Hiawatha  send  out  his  call, 
and  again  does  Atotahro's  presence  overawe, 
and  his  influence  bring  the  proceedings  to 
naught.  Yet  a  third  time  does  this  undis- 
mayed and  impassioned  advocate  of  peace 
send  out  his  summons,  but  at  the  appointed 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW   WORLD    51 

time  no  one  responds.  And  so  to  Hiawatha, 
waiting  there  alone  at  the  edge  of  the  forest 
and  looking  out  upon  the  rippling  lake,  there 
came  moments  of  heavy  discouragement  and 
sorrow.  But  the  west  wind  stirring  the 
leaves  above  him  whispers  the  word  "  peace," 
the  great  trees  with  their  reposeful  and  ma- 
jestic quietude,  speak  to  him  of  peace,  and 
the  gently  stirring  surface  of  the  lake  and  the 
quiet  sky  above  have  for  him  only  voices 
of  peace.  Who  shall  say  but  that  the  voice  of 
the  infinite  God  himself  at  that  moment  spake 
into  that  lonely  mind  and  heart  that  sacred 
word  "  peace  "  ?  Inspired  by  his  idea,  this  forest 
philosopher  and  untaught  master  of  political 
science  forms  his  resolve,  and  passing  slowly 
and  thoughtfully  into  the  thickness  of  the 
forest  he  leaves  forever  his  tribe  and  his 
people.  His  idea  is  more  to  him  than  any 
ties  of  association.  His  mission  calls  him  on, 
and  he  will  go  to  another  tribe,  where,  perhaps, 
his  plans  may  find  acceptance.  And  so  he 
journeys  to  the  land  of  the  Mohawks,  or  Can- 
iengas,  as  perhaps  they  are  more  properly 
called.  His  path  led  him  over  mountains, 


52    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

across  lakes,  and  down  rivers.  On  the  borders 
of  one  of  these  lakes  he  gathers  shells,  which 
he  strings  and  places  upon  his  breast  as  a  token 
that  his  mission  is  one  of  peace.  It  is  early 
dawn  when  he  arrives  one  morning  at  a  Can- 
ienga  town  in  which  lives  the  noted  chief 
Dekanawidah,  whom  he  wishes  to  enlist  in 
his  cause.  Tradition  tells  us  that  Hiawatha 
chose  the  fallen  trunk  of  a  tree  as  his  seat, 
because  it  was  near  to  a  spring  from  which 
the  Indians  drew  their  water.  Soon  from  the 
log  house  came  a  woman,  perhaps  the  wife  of 
Dekaniwidah,  and  sees  Hiawatha  quietly  seated 
there.  She  does  not  speak  to  him,  but  returns 
to  the  house  and  tells  Dekanawidah  of  the 
stranger  with  the  white  shells  upon  his 
breast.  The  chief  announces  that  he  will  wel- 
come the  newcomer  as  his  guest,  and  summons 
Hiawatha  to  his  presence.  So  began  the  ac- 
quaintance of  these  illustrious  Indians.  Hia- 
watha unfolds  to  Dekanawidah  his  plan,  and 
secures  in  him  a  powerful  helper.  A  council 
of  the  Canienga  nation  is  called,  and  after 
much  debate  they  agree  to  join  in  the  proposed 
confederation  and  to  use  their  efforts  to  bring 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    53 

it  into  being.  Ambassadors  are  next  sent  to 
the  neighboring  Oneidas  to  secure  their  adhe- 
sion, but  they  are  not  ready  to  decide  at  once 
and  tell  the  messengers  to  "  come  back  in  an- 
other day,"  this  meaning  in  Indian  language 
in  another  year. 

It  was  a  long  time  for  Hiawatha  to  wait,  but 
the  co-operation  of  the  Oneidas  was  all-essen- 
tial, and  the  only  way  was  to  be  patient  and 
hope  for  the  best.  And  what  a  beautiful  wait- 
ing-place was  it  in  this  land  of  the  Caniengas. 
Their  canoes  dotted  the  placid  surface  of  Lake 
George,  and  we  can  think  of  Hiawatha  plying 
his  canoe  upon  this  romantic  body  of  water, 
looking  up  upon  the  hills  which  surround  it, 
and  at  times  luring  the  pickerel  from  his  fav- 
orite haunts  ;  but  always  thinking  of  his  great 
plan  and  working  out  more  fully  in  his  mind 
the  details  of  that  confederation  which  was  to 
become  such  a  potent  factor  in  the  events  to 
be  enacted  on  these  Western  shores,  so  soon 
to  be  discovered  by  the  inquiring  and  exploring 
mind  of  Europe. 

The  year  passed  and  the  Oneidas  having 
expressed  their  assent  to  the  plan,  a  treaty  was 


54    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

ratified  by  which  Hiawatha  and  the  Caniengas 
received  the  first  new  member  into  the  contem- 
plated federation.  Application  was  now  made 
to  Atotahro,  the  dreaded  chief  of  the  Ononda- 
gas,  that  he  would  withdraw  his  objections  and 
enter  into  the  league,  but  he  again  refused  as 
he  had  previously  done,  when  urged  by  Hia- 
watha. West  of  the  Onondagas  lay  the  lands 
of  the  Cayugas,  and  the  ambassadors,  still  un- 
daunted, turned  their  steps  in  that  direction 
and  easily  secured  a  third  member  of  the  con- 
federacy, as  the  Cayugas  had  long  been  in 
conflict  with  Atotahro  and  welcomed  any  com- 
bination that  might  enable  them  to  resist  his 
power.  The  three  combined  tribes  again  made 
overtures  to  Atotahro,  by  advice  of  Hiawatha 
offering  him  large  voice  and  influence  in  the 
affairs  of  the  new  government,  and  this  time 
the  mission  was  successful.  Atotahro,  once 
committed  to  the  plan,  entered  heartily  into 
it  and  suggested  that  the  warlike  Senecas  be 
brought  into  the  confederation.  This  was  ac- 
complished, and  a  convention  was  called  to 
meet  near  Onondaga  Lake  for  the  purpose  of 
organizing  the  confederacy  and  adopting  rules 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD  55 

which  practically  amounted  to  a  constitution. 
Hiawatha  was  the  shaping  mind  of  the  gather- 
ing, and  a  constitution  or  body  of  laws  was 
established  which  is  known  to  this  day  as  "  The 
Great  Peace." 

During  all  these  succeeding  years,  whenever 
a  chief  has  died  and  a  new  chief  is  to  be  in- 
stalled, there  has  been  a  ceremony,  as  set 
forth  in  the  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites,  beginning 
with  the  chant,  "  We  come  to  greet  and  thank 
the  Peace,"  and  having  at  frequent  intervals 
the  refrain : 

"  This  was  the  roll  of  you  — 
You  that  combined  in  the  work, 
You  that  completed  the  work, 
The  great  Peace." 

When  Longfellow  wrote  his  beautiful  poem 
he  did  not  know  this  true  story  of  Hiawatha, 
and  misled  by  a  book  which  had  then  re- 
cently been  published,  he  located  Hiawatha 
far  from  his  real  home  and  wove  about  his 
name  those  exquisite  legends  in  which  we 
all  delight. 

And  the  myth  and  legend  has  its  lessons  for 
us.  Far  away  on  the  Pacific  slope  of  this  un- 


56    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

discovered  continent  the  red  man  of  the  Amer- 
ican forests  was  telling  to  his  children  a  legend 
which  we  must  note.  Hoopa  Valley  is  the 
home  of  a  tribe  of  Indians  who  from  their 
valor  and  extended  dominions  have  been  called 
the  Romans  of  northern  California.  A  careful 
study  of  this  tribe  has  been  made  by  Mr. 
Stephen  Powers  under  the  auspices  of  our 
national  Ethnological  Bureau,  and  we  give  the 
legend  in  the  graceful  form  in  which  he  has 
presented  it. 

"THE  LEGEND  OF  GARD. 

"  A  great  many  snows  ago,  according  to  the 
tradition  of  the  ancients,  there  lived  a  young 
HupS,  whose  name  was  Gard.  Wide  as  the 
eagles  fly  was  he  known  for  his  love  of  peace. 
He  loved  the  paths  of  honesty,  and  clean  was 
his  heart.  His  words  were  not  crooked  or 
double.  He  went  everywhere  teaching  the 
people  the  excellent  beauty  of  meekness.  He 
said  to  them :  '  Love  peace,  and  eschew  war 
and  the  shedding  of  blood.  Put  away  from  you 
all  wrath  and  unseemly  jangling  and  bitterness 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    57 

of  speech.  Dwell  together  in  the  singleness  of 
love.  Let  all  your  hearts  be  as  one  heart.  So 
shall  ye  prosper  greatly,  and  the  Great  One 
Above  shall  build  you  up  like  a  rock  on  the 
mountains.  The  forests  shall  yield  you  abun- 
dance of  game  and  of  rich  nutty  seeds  and 
acorns.  The  red-fleshed  salmon  shall  never  fail 
in  the  water.  Ye  shall  rest  in  your  wigwams  in 
great  joy,  and  your  children  shall  run  in  and 
out  like  the  young  rabbits  of  the  field  for 
number.' 

"  And  the  fame  of  Gard  went  out  through  all 
that  land.  Gray-headed  men  came  many  days' 
journey  to  sit  at  his  feet. 

"  Now  it  chanced  on  a  time  that  the  young 
man  Gard  was  absent  from  his  wigwam  many 
days.  His  brother  was  grievously  distressed 
on  account  of  him.  At  first  he  said  to  himself, 
'He  is  teaching  the  people  and  tarries.'  But 
when  many  days  came  and  went,  and  still 
Gard  was  nowhere  seen,  his  heart  died  within 
him.  He  assembled  together  a  great  company 
of  braves.  He  said  to  them,  'Surely  a  wild 
beast  has  devoured  him,  for  no  man  would  lay 
hands  on  one  so  gentle.'  They  sallied  forth 


58 

into  the  forest,  sorrowing,  to  search  for  Gard. 
Day  after  day  they  beat  up  and  down  the  moun- 
tains. They  struggled  through  the  tangled 
chaparral.  They  shouted  in  the  gloomy  canons. 
Holding  their  hands  to  their  ears  they  listened 
with  bated  breath.  No  sound  came  back  to 
them  but  the  lonely  echo  of  their  own  voices, 
buffeted,  faint,  and  broken  among  the  moun- 
tains. One  by  one  they  abandoned  the  search. 
They  returned  to  their  homes  in  the  valley. 
But  still  the  brother  wandered  on,  and  as  he 
went  through  the  forest  he  exclaimed,  '  O 
Gard !  O  brother !  If  you  are  indeed  in  the 
land  of  spirits,  then  speak  to  me  at  least  one 
word  with  the  voice  of  the  wind,  that  I  may 
know  it  for  a  certainty  and  therewith  be  con- 
tent.' 

"As  he  wandered,  aimless,  at  last  his  com- 
panions forsook  him.  He  roamed  alone  in  the 
mountains  and  his  heart  was  dead.  Then  it 
fell  out  on  a  day  that  Gard  suddenly  appeared 
to  him.  He  came,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  naked 
hillside  or  as  if  by  dropping  from  the  sky,  so 
sudden  was  the  apparition.  The  brother  of 
Gard  stood  dumb  and  still  before  him.  He 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    59 

gazed  upon  him  as  upon  one  risen  from  the 
dead,  and  his  heart  was  frozen.  Gard  said: 
4  Listen !  I  have  been  in  the  land  of  spirits. 
I  have  beheld  the  Great  Man  above.  I  have 
come  back  to  earth  to  bring  a  message  to  the 
HupS,  then  I  return  to  the  land  of  souls.  The 
Great  Man  has  sent  me  to  tell  the  Hupa"  that 
they  must  dwell  in  concord  with  one  another 
and  the  neighboring  tribes.  Put  away  from 
you  all  thoughts  of  vengeance.  Wash  your 
hearts  clean.  Kedden  your  arrows  no  more  in 
your  brothers'  blood.  Then  the  Great  Man 
will  make  you  to  increase  greatly  in  the  land. 
You  must  not  only  hold  back  your  arms  from 
warring  and  your  hands  from  blood-guiltiness, 
but  ye  must  wash  your  hearts  as  with  water. 
When  ye  hunger  no  more  for  blood,  and  thirst 
no  more  for  your  enemy's  soul,  when  hatred 
and  vengeance  lurk  no  more  in  your  hearts,  ye 
shall  observe  a  great  dance.  Ye  shall  keep  the 
dance  of  peace  which  the  Great  Man  has  ap- 
pointed. When  ye  observe  it,  ye  shall  know 
by  a  sign  if  ye  are  clean  in  your  hearts.  There 
shall  be  a  sign  of  smoke  ascending.  But  if  in 
your  hearts  there  is  yet  a  corner  full  of  hatred 


60    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

that  ye  have  not  washed  away,  there  shall  be 
no  sign.  If  in  your  secret  minds  ye  still  study 
vengeance,  it  is  only  a  mockery  that  ye  enact, 
and  there  shall  be  no  smoke  ascending.' 

"  Having  uttered  these  words,  Gard  was  sud- 
denly wrapped  in  a  thick  cloud  of  smoke,  and 
the  cloud  floated  up  into  the  land  of  spirits." 

We  have  selected  this  myth  not  only  on 
account  of  its  beauty,  but  because  it  is  a  typical 
representative  of  many  of  its  kind,  which  are 
everywhere  to  be  found  among  primitive  peo- 
ples. The  graceful  lines  of  "  The  Peace  Pipe  " 
have  made  familiar  to  us  one  form  of  a  story 
which  in  some  guise  presents  itself  wherever 
we  study  the  thought  and  expression  of  aborig- 
inal men.  The  Zuni  story  of  the  origin  of 
war  also  shows  that  in  the  thought  of  that 
people  war  was  not  their  natural  state  but  was 
a  dread  calamity  that  had  befallen  them. 


THE  MEANING  OF  THESE  Two  PICTURES. 

Now  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are  reasons 
for  considering  these  two  pictures  together  — 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE   NEW  WORLD    61 

this  picture  of  the  Florence  of  the  Renaissance 
and  the  picture  of  the  forest  impulse  in  the 
awaiting  continent.  Both  pictures  seem  to 
belong  properly  to  our  subject  —  The  Romance 
of  the  New  World.  Both  pictures  show  a 
reaction  to  vital  stimuli :  in  the  one  case  the 
reaction  of  the  most  civilized  man  of  the  age ; 
in  the  other  case  the  reaction  of  primitive 
man  dwelling  in  the  forest  wilds  of  an  un- 
discovered land.  All  life  is  a  response,  a  re- 
action, to  stimuli.  The  new  philosophy  of 
history  will  study  and  take  account  of  the 
response,  the  re-action,  in  the  child  and  in  prim- 
itive man  as  well  as  in  man  in  his  maturity  and 
in  his  higher  stages  of  civilization.  In  fact, 
child  study  and  the  study  of  primitive  man  are 
of  first  importance,  since  through  them  we  can 
more  clearly  discern  the  inherent  tendencies, 
the  latent  potencies,  of  humanity.  It  would  be 
a  hopeless  task  to  attempt  to  change  the  fun- 
damental nature  of  man.  If  he  is  inherently 
a  creature  adapted  to  war,  to  disorder,  and  to 
discord,  then  he  must  run  his  course.  But  if 
his  inherent  tendencies  are  towards  peace  and 
a  harmonious  adjustment  with  his  environment, 


62    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

then  the  outlook  is  more  hopeful.  This  story 
of  the  real  Hiawatha  and  the  story  which  we 
shall  later  consider  of  the  character  and  the  in- 
fluence of  this  forest  federation  formed  by  him, 
seem  to  point  to  a  more  encouraging  view  in 
this  respect  than  the  one  usually  entertained. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  myth  and  legend  of  the 
American  aborigines  as  typified  in  the  legend 
of  Gard.  Men  differ  in  their  views  as  to  the 
nature  of  their  heritage.  If  we  believe  that, 
however  long  or  involved  has  been  the  orderly 
process,  yet  that  at  some  point  we  have  come 
into  kinship  with  the  divine,  then  it  will  not 
surprise  us  to  find  these  hopeful  tendencies 
inherent  in  humanity.  Men  differ  in  their 
views  as  to  the  nature  of  the  stimuli  to  which 
man  in  his  history  has  reacted.  If  we  believe 
that  God  is  constantly  pouring  in  impulses 
upon  humanity,  and  that  humanity  is  adapted 
to  reaction  to  these  impulses,  then  our  philos- 
ophy of  history  will  be  hopeful  and  we  shall 
watch  the  progress  of  the  individual  and  of 
society,  the  forward  bounds  and  the  retrogres- 
sions, as  part  of  the  great  plan  for  developing 
the  inherently  divine  nature  of  humanity. 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    63 

In  watching  the  Italy  of  the  Renaissance  we 
can  read  the  fascinating  story  of  civilized  man 
reacting  to  mighty  impulses,  inspired,  revivi- 
fied, a  new-born  creature  starting  out  upon  a 
new  career.  The  choicest  spirits,  the  scholars 
of  the  world,  flocked  to  Italy  and  to  Florence, 
partook  of  the  new  impulse,  and  extended  it 
among  all  civilized  peoples. 

The  new  lands  were  discovered  at  just  the 
right  moment.  The  forces  put  in  operation  by 
the  Italian  Renaissance  produced  great  changes 
and  brought  about  sorrowful  conflicts.  The 
development  of  the  individual  proceeded  more 
rapidly  than  the  development  of  society,  and, 
with  the  existing  conditions,  the  old  world  in- 
evitably became  the  theatre  of  mighty  strug- 
gles. Men  were  out  of  touch  with  their 
environment.  A  new  scene  was  needed  for 
the  new  individual.  The  discovery  of  America 
was  a  gradual  process.  North  America  had  to 
be  sliced  off  from  Asia,  to  which  it  had  been 
joined  in  the  confused  jumble  of  the  thought  of 
the  times.  It  was  a  full  century  after  1492 
before  any  proper  appreciation  of  the  new  con- 
tinent began  to  dawn  upon  the  minds  of  men. 


64    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Then  they  naturally  turned  to  it,  and  the  early 
and  unsuccessful  settlements  in  Virginia  were 
attempted. 

When  we  think  of  the  record  of  that  century, 
of  those  theses  nailed  to  the  church  door  at 
Wittenberg,  of  Erasmus  and  the  gentler 
spirits  who  sought  to  bring  about  a  peaceful 
reform,  but  were  unable  to  avert  the  conflict, 
of  the  snapping  of  old  ties,  of  the  separation 
of  families  by  the  differences  of  opinion,  of 
the  necessity  for  a  readjustment  of  relation- 
ships, we  come  to  feel  that  the  discovery  of 
America  was  the  most  important  and  vital 
achievement  of  that  wonderful  and  fascinating 
time  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  The  vision  of 
Columbus  was  a  vision  for  the  world. 

"  '  Give  me  white  paper  ! 

This  which  you  use  is  black  and  rough  with  smears 
Of  sweat  and  grime  and  fraud  and  blood  and  tears, 
Crossed  with  the  story  of  men's  sins  and  fears, 
Of  battle  and  of  famine  all  these  years 
When  all  God's  children  have  forgot  their  birth, 
And  drudged  and  fought  and  died  like  beasts  of  earth. 

Give  me  white  paper  !  ' 

"  One  storm-trained  seaman  listened  to  the  word  ; 
What  no  man  saw,  he  saw  ;  he  heard  what  no  man  heard ; 


THE  ROMANCE  OF  THE  NEW  WORLD    65 

In  answer  he  compelled  the  sea 

To  eager  man  to  tell 

The  secret  she  had  kept  so  well, 

Left  blood  and  guilt  and  tyranny  behind, 

Sailing  still  west  the  hidden  shore  to  find  ; 

For  all  mankind  that  unstained  scroll  unfurled 

Where  God  might  write  anew  the  story  of  the  world."  1 

1  Edward  Everett  Hale,  The  Results  of  Columbus,  Discov- 
ery. Pro.  Am.  Antiq.  Socy.,  vol.  viii. 


II 

HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD 

A  WITTY  writer  has  said:  "  History  is  a 
novel  that  happened ;  a  novel  is  history 
that  never  happened." 

Our  story  has  had  to  do  with  the  glorious 
time  of  the  Italian  Renaissance,  that  time  of 
the  new  birth  and  awakening  of  the  world,  the 
time  of  the  Discovery  of  America. 

Now  we  are  to  deal  with  scenes  hardly  less 
interesting  or  dramatic.  Let  us  for  the  time 
being  escape  from  our  surroundings  and  in 
imagination  and  in  spirit  live  in  that  epoch  of 
such  peculiar  and  vital  interest  to  us,  associated 
as  it  is  with  the  settlement  of  America,  and 
with  the  first  happenings  on  these  New  England 
shores. 

In  the  last  chapter  1492  was  our  pivotal 
date.  Let  us  now  take  the  well  known  date  of 
1620  as  the  central  point  around  which  to  make 


70     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

our  groupings,  America  in  its  Relation  to  the 
Great  Epochs  of  History.  Again  we  have  a 
great  world-epoch  as  well  as  the  second  epoch 
in  the  history  of  our  own  land.  It  is  the  epoch 
signalized  by  the  Reformation  and  its  resulting 
conflicts.  It  is  in  fact  a  continuation,  an  out- 
come, of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  It  is  the 
Teutonic  Renaissance  of  Germany;  it  is  the 
Christian  Renaissance  of  England. 

And  in  trying  to  catch  the  picture  of  this 
period  let  us  first  note  the  progress  in  science. 
We  saw  that  in  1492  Copernicus  was  a  student 
of  nineteen.  About  1507  he  began  to  write 
down  the  thoughts  which  he  had  systematized. 
About  the  year  1530,  when  he  was  fifty-seven 
years  old,  his  work  in  six  books  on  the  Revolu- 
tion of  the  Celestial  Orbs  was  finished.  Here 
was  a  great  law  of  unity  established  governing 
the  movement  of  the  earth  as  well  as  of  all  the 
heavenly  bodies.  Old  delusions  and  fallacies 
on  the  subject  were  to  forever  pass  away. 

In  the  period  now  under  our  consideration, 
Kepler  and  "  the  starry  Galileo  with  his  woes  " 
are  confirming  and  expanding  the  system  of 
Copernicus.  The  telescope  was  first  used  about 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW   WORLD          71 

the  year  1609,  almost  the  year  of  that  first 
permanent  settlement  at  Jamestown.  It  was 
in  this  year  1609  that  Galileo,  on  a  visit  to 
Venice,  heard  of  an  instrument  for  producing 
magnifying  effects,  and  proceeded  to  construct 
his  first  telescope  which  was  a  mere  toy,  mag- 
nifying an  object  to  only  a  few  times  its  real 
size.  Toy  as  it  was,  when  he  carried  it  to 
Venice  it  produced  the  greatest  excitement 
there  among  the  people,  and  Galileo  received 
for  it  from  the  magistrate  of  the  city  a  life 
tenure  of  his  professorship  and  an  increase 
of  his  salary  by  four  hundred  and  eighty 
florins.  A  short  time  afterward  the  maker 
of  another  instrument  of  the  same  nature  was 
followed  by  an  eager  and  unmanageable  crowd 
that  took  possession  of  the  tube  and  would  not 
return  it  until  they  had  all  satisfied  their 
curiosity  by  testing  its  strange  power.1 

Having  constructed  larger  and  more  power- 
ful instruments  and  turned  them  upon  the 
heavenly  bodies,  Galileo  made  a  series  of  dis- 
coveries of  the  most  profound  interest.  On 
Jan.  7,  1610,  he  saw  two  stars  in  the  field  of 

1  Brewster's  Memoirs  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  vol.  i.  p.  271. 


72    AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Jupiter,  and  on  the  8th  he  detected  three  stars 
and  nearer  to  each  other  than  before,  thus 
proving  that  they  had  a  motion  of  their  own. 
By  watching  the  variation  of  the  positions  of 
these  stars  and  at  length  discovering  a  fourth, 
he  was  able  to  make  the  announcement  to  the 
world  of  the  four  satellites  of  Jupiter. 

Galileo  discovered  the  crescent,  moon-like 
waxing  and  waning  of  Venus ;  he  pointed  out 
the  spots  on  the  surface  of  the  sun,  and  proved 
its  revolution  on  its  axis ;  he  saw  the  moon 
covered  with  mountains  and  valleys  ;  he  demon- 
strated that  the  Milky  Way  consisted  of  a  vast 
multitude  of  stars.  By  these  and  other  discov- 
eries he  upheld  the  theories  of  Copernicus. 
In  1609  Kepler  published  his  commentaries 
on  the  motions  of  the  planet  Mars,  giving 
to  the  world  his  first  two  laws,  and  in  1619 
appeared  his  work  on  "  The  Harmony  of  the 
World "  based  on  his  observations  of  that 
wonderful  and  perfect  harmony  which  he 
had  seen  to  be  maintained  in  all  the  motions 
of  the  celestial  bodies.  Contemporaneous  with 
Galileo  and  Kepler  was  Tycho  Brahe,  making 
the  third  in  that  illustrious  triumvirate  of 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          73 

astronomers.  The  microscope  was  invented 
about  1620.  In  1628  Harvey  published  his 
memorable  work  in  which  his  discoveries 
concerning  the  circulation  of  the  blood  are 
set  forth.  Between  1660  and  1680  the  struc- 
ture of  plants  was  analyzed  and  the  science 
of  botany  constructed. 

In  August,  1665,  Cambridge  College  was 
closed  on  account  of  the  plague,  and  a  youth 
of  twenty-three  returns  to  his  home  and  spends 
much  time  in  the  garden  at  Woolsthorpe.  To 
the  penetrating  vision  of  genius  the  fall  of  an 
apple  in  that  garden  indicates  a  law  which  his 
great  and  comprehensive  mind  works  out  into 
the  universal  law  of  gravitation.  In  1686 
was  published  Newton's  "  Principia,"  of  which 
it  has  been  said  that  "  it  will  ever  be  regarded 
as  the  brightest  page  in  the  records  of  human 
reason." 

"  Nature  and  Nature's  laws  lay  hid  in  night : 
God  said,  Let  Newton  be,  and  all  was  light." 

In  philosophy  the  progress  was  equally 
marked.  It  has  been  said  that  from  Bacon 
and  Descartes,  from  this  epoch  of  the  seven- 


74    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

teenth  century,  we  can  date  the  intellectual 
regeneration  of  Europe.  Their  look  was  for- 
ward ;  they  taught  faith  in  progress  ;  they  saw 
the  grand  future  of  the  human  race,  and  pointed 
men  away  from  antiquity  and  towards  the 
great  possibilities  of  achievement  inherent  in 
the  human  mind.  Descartes  taught  men  to 
doubt  in  order  that  they  might  have  the  foun- 
dation for  exact  knowledge  and  reasonable 
belief.  Then  there  was  John  Locke  and  his 
remarkable  "  Essay  on  the  Human  Understand- 
ing," as  well  as  his  political  writings  which 
exercised  such  an  important  influence  upon 
succeeding  times. 

In  a  very  interesting  lecture  given  a  good 
many  years  ago  by  Robert  C.  Winthrop  before 
the  Mercantile  Library  Association  of  Boston 
he  speaks  of  the  fact  that  Josiah  Quincy,  Jr., 
bequeathed  to  his  son  as  a  precious  legacy, 
together  with  John  Locke's  works  and  the 
works  of  Lord  Bacon,  the  discourses  on  Gov- 
ernment by  Algernon  Sidney.  Now  the  date 
of  Algernon  Sidney's  birth  is  sometimes  given 
as  1617,  but  more  generally  believed,  as  Mr. 
Winthrop  says,  to  have  been  1622;  so  that 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          75 

Algernon  Sidney  is  pretty  closely  connected 
with  our  central  date  of  1620.  He  is  also 
closely  connected  with,  and  in  fact  is  the 
author  of,  the  motto  of  the  Great  Seal  of  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 

As  you  walk  down  Washington  Street  you 
see  this  great  Seal  of  Massachusetts  embla- 
zoned upon  the  Old  State  House,  which  stands 
at  the  head  of  State  Street,  and  as  you  look  up 
at  it  the  motto  "  Ense  petit  placidam  sub  liber- 
tate  quietem  "  greets  you  legibly.  (  "  By  the 
sword  she  seeks  quiet  peace  under  liberty")  Mr. 
Winthrop  tells  the  story  of  this  motto,  and  it  is 
also  told  in  the  introduction  to  some  of  the 
editions  of  Sidney's  works.  It  seems  that 
when  Algernon  Sidney  was  in  Copenhagen, 
about  August,  1660,  and  visited  a  public  library 
there,  he  was  requested  to  place  his  name  and 
motto  in  an  autograph  album  which  was  pre- 
sented to  distinguished  strangers  for  that  pur- 
pose. Sidney,  instead  of  any  heraldic  motto  of 
any  branch  of  his  family,  wrote  above  his  name 
these  lines : 

"  Maims  hsec,  inimica  tyrannis, 
Ense  petit  placidam  sub  libertate  quietem." 


76     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 
As  Mr.  Winthrop  translates  them : 

"  This  hand,  hostile  to  tyrants, 
Seeks  by  the  sword  the  tranquil  peace  of  freedom." 

It  is  also  related  that  Terlon  the  French  ambas- 
sador, learning  what  these  Latin  words  meant, 
drew  his  sword  and  cut  them  out  of  the  book, 
as  some  of  the  accounts  have  it,  or,  according 
to  Mr.  Winthrop's  version,  "tore  the  page 
indignantly  out  of  the  book  as  an  assault  upon 
the  despotic  government  of  his  own  country." 
Now  Mr.  Winthrop  gives  us  in  his  address  a 
most  interesting  sequel  to  this  story,  and  we 
must  let  him  tell  it  in  his  own  words  —  he 
says: 

"But  if  the  motto  of  Sidney  was  thus  in- 
solently torn  from  the  album  in  which  it  was 
originally  transcribed,  I  can  myself  bear  witness 
that  it  was  written  by  a  kindred  spirit,  in  another 
album,  under  circumstances  which  will  never  be 
forgotten,  and  where  it  will  always  be  sacredly 
preserved  and  rjrized.  During  the  session  of  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States  in 
January,  1842,  I  was  requested  by  a  friend  to 
obtain  for  him  the  autograph  of  my  venerable 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          77 

colleague,  John  Quincy  Adams.  It  happened  that 
morning  that  Mr.  Adams,  in  the  vindication  of  a 
right  which  he  deemed  inviolable,  had  presented  a 
petition  which  excited  the  indignation  of  some  of 
the  Southern  members.  He  had  been  interrupted 
rudely,  and  threatened  with  personal  expulsion, 
and  a  summary  motion  made  that  his  petition 
should  not  be  received.  The  yeas  and  nays  were 
demanded  on  this,  or  some  other  motion,  and  the 
clerk  proceeded  to  call  the  roll.  During  this  proc- 
ess, which  occupies,  as  you  may  know,  not  less 
than  twenty-five  or  thirty  minutes,  I  approached 
Mr.  Adams  and  told  him  my  errand,  adding  also 
that  I  would  not  have  troubled  him  at  such  a 
moment,  were  not  the  person  in  whose  behalf  I 
applied  about  to  leave  Washington  by  the  very 
next  train  of  cars,  which  was  soon  to  start. 
"There  is  no  better  time  than  this,"  said  he; 
' '  give  me  the  book."  And  taking  it,  the  venera- 
ble Ex-President  proceeded  with  a  trembling  hand, 
but  an  untrembling  heart  (for  if  ever  there  was  a 
man  whose  courage  always  mounted  with  the 
occasion,  and  who  seemed  incapable  of  any  fear 
except  the  fear  of  God,  it  was  John  Quincy 
Adams),  —  he  proceeded,  I  say,  to  inscribe  in  this 
album  the  following  spirited  translation  of  Sidney's 
motto : 


78    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

"  This  hand  to  tyrants  ever  sworn  the  foe, 
For  freedom  only  deals  the  deadly  blow  ; 
Then  sheathes  in  calm  repose  the  vengeful  blade, 
For  gentle  peace  in  freedom's  hallowed  shade." 

Now  concerning  the  "  Discourses  on  Govern- 
ment, "  written  by  Algernon  Sidney,  the  author 
of  the  motto  of  the  Great  Seal  of  Massachusetts, 
and  bequeathed  by  Josiah  Quincy  to  his  son, 
it  remains  to  be  said  that  they  were  re- 
markable productions  and  worthy  to  rank,  as 
Mr.  Quincy  placed  them,  with  Bacon  and 
Locke.  Mr.  Winthrop  says  no  less  of  them 
than  this:  "Indeed  it  would  be  difficult  to 
find  anything  valuable  even  in  our  own  Amer- 
ican Constitution  or  Bills  of  Rights  which 
has  not  been  more  or  less  distinctly  antici- 
pated or  foreshadowed  in  these  Discourses," 
and  gives  the  titles  of  some  of  the  chapters 
as  bearing  out  this  opinion.  Here  are  the 
titles : 

' '  God  leaves  to  man  the  choice  of  forms  in 
government  and  those  who  constitute  one  form 
may  abrogate  it." 

"No  man  comes  to  command  many,  unless  by 
consent  or  by  force." 


HOMES  IN   THE  NEW  WORLD          79 

"  The  general  revolt  of  a  nation  cannot  be  called 
a  rebellion." 

"  Liberty  produceth  virtue,  order,  and  stability; 
slavery  is  accompanied  with  vice,  weakness,  and 
misery." 

"  All  just  magisterial  power  is  from  the  people." 

"  Government  is  not  instituted  for  the  good  of 
the  governor  but  of  the  governed,  and  power  is  not 
an  advantage  but  a  burthen." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Algernon  Sid- 
ney was  the  great-nephew  of  Sir  Philip  Sidney 
of  whom  we  have  the  immortal  story  that, 
wounded  to  his  death  on  the  battle-field  of 
Zutphen,  he  pushed  back  the  cup  of  water 
from  his  parched  lips  and  handed  it  to  a  com- 
mon soldier  who  lay  dying  on  the  field,  saying 
as  he  did  so,  "  Thy  necessity  is  greater  than 
mine." 

Algernon  Sidney  was  beheaded  by  Charles, 
Dec.  7,  1683,  five  years  before  the  era  of  free- 
dom for  England  ushered  in  by  1688. 

Not  only  was  there  great  progress  in  science 
and  philosophy  in  this  time  of  settlement,  this 
time  signalized  for  us  by  the  landing  at  Ply- 
mouth in  1620,  but  the  bound  in  art,  using 


80    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

"art"  in  the  broad  sense  of  the  revelation  of 
beauty,  was  hardly  less  remarkable  than  that 
in  the  time  of  the  Italian  Renaissance.  As 
art  and  literature  rocked  the  cradle  of  the  new- 
born world  in  the  time  of  discovery,  so  was 
the  time  of  the  making  of  homes  in  the  New 
World  smiled  upon  by  the  graces  of  genius 
and  expression.  We  say  Puritan  England,  and 
the  first  impression  is  of  something  hard  and 
unlovely  in  the  life  of  the  times ;  so  unfor- 
tunate are  the  associations  which  have  popu- 
larly grown  up  about  the  name  Puritanism ;  so 
hard,  and  terrible  too,  were  the  existing  condi- 
tions. But  we  have  only  to  go  to  Taine's  fas- 
cinating chapters  on  the  Christian  Renaissance 
in  his  "  History  of  English  Literature,"  in  order 
to  catch  the  artistic  glory  and  beauty  of  achieve- 
ment in  these  times  of  stress  and  conflict. 
Spenser  and  his  "  Faery  Queen,"  Shakespeare 
and  his  plays  comprehending  all  things  and 
written  for  all  times,  Milton  and  his  "  Paradise 
Lost,"  John  Bunyan  and  his  "Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress," Bacon  and  his  "  Essays  "  not  only  full  of 
knowledge  and  wisdom  but  classic  gems  in 
point  of  style,  Hooker  and  the  splendid  rhet- 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          81 

oric  of  his  "  Ecclesiastical  Polity ; "  these  are 
some  of  the  names  that  are  associated  with  the 
Christian  Renaissance,  with  the  time  of  the 
settlement  of  the  New  World. 

But  literature  is  not  the  only  form  in  which 
art  expresses  itself  so  vividly  in  this  period. 
It  is  the  time  of  the  Flemish  school  of  painters. 
That  artist  of  captivating  personality,  so  strik- 
ingly handsome  with  his  glossy  brown  hair 
and  eyes  of  a  "  golden  embrownment,"  with 
such  fascination  of  manner  that  he  enchanted 
all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  so  wonder- 
ful in  his  genius,  is  painting  the  "  Holy  Fam- 
ily "  and,  to  obtain  release  from  a  threatened 
lawsuit,  gives  to  the  world  that  immortal 
conception  of  "  The  Descent  from  the  Cross." 
It  is  the  time  of  Rubens.  It  is  also  the  time  of 
Rembrandt  and  of  Van  Dyck.  It  is  the  time 
also  of  the  Spanish  School  of  Painters,  the 
time  of  Velasquez  and  of  Murillo,  whose  Ma- 
donnas of  the  soulful  eyes  have  touched  so 
many  hearts  and  pictured  forth  to  them 
divinest  tenderness  and  love. 

But  if  we  wish  to  catch  a  realistic  picture 
of  those  times  we  must  not  only  note  the 

6 


82    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

progress  in  science  and  philosophy  and  watch 
the  bound  in  art,  but  we  must  turn  our  eyes 
to  phenomena  which  like  a  dark  cloud  were 
overhadowing  all  Europe,  a  cloud  from  whose 
inky  blackness  shot  lurid  and  threatening 
gleams. 

In  that  marvellous  year  of  1588,  that 
"Annus  Mirabilis,"  that  year  of  earthquakes 
and  famines,  of  unheard  of  tempests,  of  strange 
portents  and  startling  phenomena,  —  it  was  re- 
ported that  as  the  sun  shone  at  mid-day  a 
drawn  sword  appeared  across  its  face.  Men 
have  in  all  ages  read  their  own  thoughts  and 
fears  into  the  manifestations  of  nature  and  par- 
ticularly into  any  striking  or  unusual  appear- 
ance in  the  celestial  panorama,1  and  surely,  in 
this  drawn  sword  which  they  thought  they 
saw  in  1588  they  correctly  presaged  the  con- 
flicts which  were  to  last  for  well-nigh  half  a  cen- 
tury. The  drawn  sword !  We  can  see  it  luridly 
flaming  in  the  skies  in  that  familiar  year  1620. 
We  can  see  its  baleful  gleam  over  Germany, 
where  the  Thirty  Years'  War  has  fairly  begun. 
We  can  hear  the  tramp  of  armies  and  the  din 
1  Appendix,  Note  It. 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          83 

of  battle,  and  we  avert  our  faces  from  the 
bloody  conflicts.  We  can  hear  the  groans  of 
the  wounded  and  the  dying ;  we  can  see  the 
homes  laid  waste.1 

The  drawn  sword !  We  can  see  it  hanging 
over  Holland.  The  truce  between  Spain  and 
the  Netherlands  is  expiring  while  yet  the  ter- 
rors of  Harlem,  of  Maestricht,  and  of  Leyden 
have  not  passed  from  the  memories  of  living 
men. 

The  drawn  sword !  Over  France  the  shadow 
of  St.  Bartholomew  still  hangs  darkly.  In 
fancy  the  people  can  yet  see  the  frenzied  young 
king  firing  from  the  windows  of  his  apartments 
upon  his  defenceless  subjects  on  that  frightful 
night  of  massacre.  The  sky  of  France  is  lower- 
ing with  clouds,  and  the  people  wait  in  fear  for 
the  coming  storm. 

The  drawn  sword !  It  hovers  threateningly 
over  England.  King  James  has  alienated  the 
affections  and  the  confidence  of  his  people. 
The  unhappy  Charles  I.  is  soon  to  ascend  the 
throne.  Soon  will  come  that  dramatic  scene  in 
the  memorable  parliament  of  the  spring  of 

1  Appendix,  Note  III. 


84    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

1628.     You  remember  how  Eliot   struck   his 
bold  note  in  the  Commons  and  moved  not  only 
to  present  a  remonstrance  to  the  king,  but  de- 
clared that  the  favorite  Buckingham  must  be 
removed.     The  speaker  stops  him  and  declares 
that  in  so  doing  he  is  under  command  of  the 
king.     Eliot  sat    down    amid    the  death-like 
stillness  that  prevailed  in  the   House.     Then 
the  pent-up  feelings  burst  forth  and  that  as- 
sembly became  an  extraordinary  spectacle  of 
over-wrought  and  weeping  men.     Pym  spoke, 
but    his   eyes   were   blinded   with   tears.     Sir 
Edward  Coke,  that  dry  old  lawyer,  as  Carlyle 
calls  him,  who  wrote  Coke  upon  Lyttleton,  tried 
to  speak,  but  was  so  overcome  by  his  emotions 
that  he  was  compelled   to   sit  down.     These 
strong  men,   these  heroes  of   English  liberty 
wept  because  they  saw  their  land  oppressed 
with  every  species  of  unjust  taxation  and  un- 
lawful imprisonment ;  because  they  beheld  the 
distraction  and  oppression  of  their  country,  and 
if  the  time  had  not  yet  arrived  for  the  horrors 
of  civil  war,  they  still  saw  it  standing,  gaunt 
and  terrible,  and  near  before  them. 

In  the  parliament  of  the  succeeding  year, 


HOMES  IN  THE   NEW  WORLD          85 

1629,  its  dissolution  is  marked  by  no  less  excit- 
ing scenes.  The  speaker  is  held  down  in  his 
chair ;  the  doors  are  locked  against  the  king's 
messenger.  Eliot  bursts  into  a  vehement  de- 
nunciation and  declares  that  "  none  have  gone 
about  to  break  parliaments  but  in  the  end  par- 
liaments have  broken  them."  The  Commons, 
by  a  series  of  resolutions  declares  against  the 
prevailing  abuses  and  asserts  that  any  one  sub- 
mitting to  them  is  a  betrayer  of  the  liberty  of 
England,  and  an  enemy  of  the  same. 

Such  was  England  in  1629.  No  other  parlia- 
ment convened  in  the  succeeding  eleven  years. 
There  were  to  be  no  peaceful  homes  in  England 
for  many  a  weary  year.  It  was  during  these 
years,  from  1629  to  1640,  that  the  multitudes 
flocked  to  these  shores  that  they  might  find  for 
themselves  homes  in  the  New  World. 

Soon  England  is  to  be  the  scene  of  Crom- 
well, of  civil  war,  of  the  execution  of  the 
king. 

The  drawn  sword!  All  Europe  can  read 
nothing  in  the  skies  but  its  menacing  message. 
Home  ties  are  broken  and  men  rush  to  other 
lands  to  take  part  in  the  conflicts  that  are  wag- 


86    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

ing.  The  Dane  crosses  the  river,  the  Swede 
the  sea.  National  ties  are  broken  ;  Swiss  finds 
himself  arrayed  against  Swiss,  and  German 
against  German. 

The  drawn  sword  !  the  destroyer  of  homes ; 
the  blighter  of  civilization !  So  men  thought 
they  saw  it  flaming  in  the  skies  in  1588,  and  so 
it  did  in  fact  hang  over  the  Old  World  during 
the  years  we  have  been  noting.  But  by  the 
watchful  eye  looking  up  to  the  heavens  a  hap- 
pier potent  was  also  to  be  discerned. 

In  1604  a  new  star  of  great  brilliancy  sud- 
denly made  its  appearance.  A  short  time  be- 
fore there  had  been  a  remarkable  conjunction 
of  planets ;  Saturn  and  Jupiter  were  in  con- 
junction and  soon  Mars  was  added.  This  star, 
at  first  brighter  than  Jupiter  and  even  rival- 
ling Venus,  was  constantly  changing  its  color 
in  a  most  wonderful  way.  It  was  tawny,  then 
yellow,  then  purple  and  red  and  white  by  turns. 
And  so  it  shone  until  it  gradually  became 
small  and  dull  and  after  a  few  months  finally 
disappeared.  It  was  a  strange  star,  well  calcu- 
lated to  excite  wonder  and  speculation.  John 
Kepler,  the  great  astronomer,  that  wonderful  if 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          87 

somewhat  erratic  genius,  made  a  computation 
by  which  he  demonstrated  that  a  similar  con- 
junction of  planets  preceded  the  appearance  of 
that  sacred  Star  of  Bethlehem  and  declared  it 
to  be  a  reappearance  of  the  star  those  wise  men 
sought  and  followed.  Was  it  indeed  the  Star 
of  Peace  shining  thus  in  the  heavens  just  a  few 
years  before  that  early  settlement  of  Virginia, 
sixteen  years  before  that  landing  at  Plymouth  ? 
Was  it  an  omen  that  the  mission  of  the  new 
land  was  to  be  a  mission  of  peace  ?  Fanciful, 
if  you  will,  but  if  this  be  so  what  was 
there  in  Europe  in  those  troubled  times  in 
keeping  with  that  bright  emblem  of  peace? 
There  is  said  to  be  still  in  existence  the  origi- 
nal letter  written  at  about  this  time  by  Henry 
IV.  and  supposed  to  have  been  sent  to 
Queen  Elizabeth.  It  is  addressed  "To  her 
who  merits  immortal  praise."  It  speaks  of 
"  the  most  excellent  and  rare  enterprise  that 
ever  the  human  mind  conceived  —  a  thought 
rather  divine  than  human."  It  is  believed  to 
refer  to  the  plan  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Christian  Commonwealth,  a  Federation  of  the 
nations  of  the  earth,  which  has  been  called  the 


88    AMERICA  IX   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

great  design  of  Henry  of  Navarre ;  a  design 
that,  had  he  lived,  might  have  been  carried  out 
and  have  become  the  crowning  glory  of  his  life. 
The  terms  of  this  letter  and  other  evidence 
seem  to  indicate  that  the  acute  intellect  of  the 
Virgin  Queen  was  the  first  to  apprehend  and 
suggest  this  great  scheme  of  international 
polity.1  However  this  may  have  been,  certain 
it  is  that  these  two  great  sovereigns  were  most 
zealous  in  their  efforts  and  hopeful  as  to  the 
bringing  about  of  this  great  beneficence  for 
humanity.  The  plan,  in  substance,  was  for  the 
creation  of  a  great  republic  or  international 
State,  having  a  senate,  and  representation  to  be 
given  to  the  Emperor,  the  Pope,  the  kings  of 
France,  Spain,  England,  Denmark,  Sweden, 
Lombardy,  and  Poland,  the  States  General,  the 
Swiss  Cantons,  and  the  Italian  commonwealth. 
It  was  intended  that  this  international  senate 
should  "deliberate  on  any  affairs  which  might 
occur,  discuss  the  different  interests,  pacify  the 
quarrels,  clear  up  and  determine  all  the  civil, 
political,  and  religious  affairs  of  Europe, 
whether  within  itself  or  with  its  neighbors." 

1  Appendix,  Note  IV. 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          89 

As  proposed,  the  senate  would  have  consisted 
of  about  sixty-six  representatives,  to  be  re- 
chosen  every  three  years. 

It  was  believed  that  this  plan  of  government 
would  secure  and  maintain  the  peace  of  the 
world.  The  powers  in  question  all  were  ready 
to  join  in  the  plan,  and  when  that  dagger  struck 
into  the  heart  of  great  King  Henry  military 
preparations  were  far  advanced  for  establishing 
what  might  have  been  the  first  peace  army,  the 
first  great  armed  police  force  to  sustain  the  law 
and  order  of  an  international  State.  England, 
Sweden,  and  Denmark  each  agreed  to  furnish 
eight  thousand  foot,  fifteen  hundred  horse, 
and  eight  cannons;  the  princes  of  Germany, 
twenty-five  thousand  foot,  ten  thousand  horse, 
and  forty  cannons;  the  United  Provinces, 
twelve  thousand  foot,  two  thousand  horse, 
and  ten  cannons;  Hungary,  Germany,  and 
the  oilier  Evangelics  of  Germany,  the  same 
number;  the  Pope,  ten  thousand  and  five 
hundred  foot,  fifteen  hundred  horse  and 
eight  cannons ;  the  Duke  of  Savoy  eighteen 
thousand  foot,  two  thousand  horse  and  twelve 
cannons;  the  Venetians,  twelve  thousand 


90    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

foot,  two  thousand  horse,  and  twelve  cannons. 
Such  was  the  great  plan  for  an  international 
State  to  bring  about  a  world  peace  which 
was  being  formulated  when  that  brilliant  Star 
of  Peace  shone  down  upon  a  world  even  then 
striving  to  shake  off  the  strange  spell  cast 
upon  it  by  that  drawn  sword  which  had 
horrified  men  by  its  lurid  and  hateful  gleam. 
The  death  of  Henry  put  an  end  to  that  great 
plan  for  peace,  and  the  world  still  groaned 
under  demonic  sway ;  but  yet  the  rays  from 
that  Star  of  Peace  had  left  some  healing 
influence. 

On  Christmas  day,  1629,  a  young  student  at 
Christ  College,  Cambridge,  composes  that  per- 
fect ode  "  On  the  Morning  of  Christ's  Nativity," 
declared  by  Mr.  Hallam  to  be  perhaps  the  most 
beautiful  in  the  English  language.  It  is  the 
young  Milton  whose  youthful  genius  caught 
its  inspiration  from  the  spirit  of  the  Star  of 
Peace.  Do  you  recall  the  opening  lines  of 
«  The  Hymn  "  ?  - 

"  It  was  the  winter  wild 

While  the  heaven-born  child 
All  meanly  wrapped  in  the  rude  manger  lies ; 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD    91 

Nature,  in  awe  to  Him, 
Had  doffed  her  gaudy  trim, 
With  her  great  Master  so  to  sympathize." 

And  the  following  stanza : 

"  But  He,  her  fears  to  cease. 

Sent  down  the  meek-eyed  Peace. 
She,  crowned  with  olive-green  came  softly  sliding 

Down  through  the  turning  sphere, 

His  ready  harbinger, 

With  turtle  wing  the  amorous  clouds  dividing  ; 
And,  waving  wide  her  myrtle  wand, 
She  strikes  a  universal  peace  through  sea  and  land." 

"  A  Universal  Peace !  "  —  while  all  Europe 
was  torn  with  religious  conflicts,  was  reeking 
with  bloody  strife ;  the  Thirty  Years'  War  at 
its  height  and  the  world  resounding  with  the 
names  of  Tilly,  of  Wallenstein,  of  Gustavus 
Adolphus  "  the  Lion  of  the  North ;  "  the  truce 
between  Spain  and  Holland  long  since  ended, 
and  a  fierce  struggle  raging  ;  England  trembling 
under  the  arbitrary  and  personal  government  of 
Charles  I.,  with  the  horrors  of  civil  war  just 
before  her ;  multitudes  flocking  to  these  shores 
because  nowhere  else  under  the  fair  face  of 
heaven  were  peace  and  quiet  to  be  found,  —  at 


92    AMERICA.  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

such  a  time  and  amid  such  scenes  did  the 
young  Milton,  typical  Puritan,  wondrous 
poet,  see  his  vision  of  a  universal  peace  and 
write  his  matchless  ode  in  commemoration  of 
the  coming  of  that  Judean  Messenger  of 
Peace. 

In  1620,  and  just  about  the  time  of  the  land- 
ing at  Plymouth  Rock,  a  man  was  confined  in 
the  Castle  of  Louvestein,  where  he  had  been  a 
prisoner  and  badly  used  for  more  than  eighteen 
months.  His  devoted  wife,  who  was  permitted 
to  be  with  him,  was  planning  for  his  escape. 
She  noticed  that  the  guards  were  becoming 
careless  and  had  ceased  to  search  each  week  a 
large  trunk  which  left  the  castle  with  books 
and  washing  to  be  taken  to  a  neighboring 
town.  So  she  persuaded  her  husband  to  con- 
ceal himself  in  this  trunk,  having  made  breath- 
ing holes  in  it,  and  thus  he  was  carried  out  to 
that  neighboring  town  of  Gorcum  to  the  house 
of  a  friend,  and  from  there,  disguised  as  a  joiner 
and  with  a  ruler  in  his  hand,  he  made  his  way 
to  Antwerp.  His  wife  meanwhile  pretended 
that  her  husband  was  very  sick,  in  order  to 
give  him  time  to  escape  into  a  foreign  country. 


HOMES  IN  THE   NEW  WORLD          93 

Finally,  thinking  her  husband  safe,  she  told 
the  guards,  laughing  at  them,  that  the  birds 
were  fled.1  That  man  was  Hugo  Grotius. 

We  should  fail  to  understand  the  Europe 
of  1620,  and  especially  the  England  of  this 
seventeenth  century,  if  we  did  not  take  into 
account  the  effect  produced  upon  the  people 
by  the  English  Bible. 

And  the  impulse  produced  by  the  English 
Bible  was  artistic  as  well  as  religious.  The 
genius  of  the  Hebrew  race,  if  stern  and  deeply 
religious  in  its  cast,  yet  found  its  embodiment 
in  a  literature  of  exquisite  beauty.  The  world 
through  all  the  succeeding  ages  has  received 
its  spiritual  nourishment  from  those  Hebraic 
pages  because  they  were  not  didactic  in  their 
f  orm,but  through  myth,  through  legend,  through 
allegory,  through  poetry,  through  symmetry  of 
form  and  passion  of  expression,  appealed  to 
the  sense  of  proportion,  of  harmony,  of  kinship 
with  the  beautiful  and  the  divine  that  is  inherent 
in  the  human  race.  Had  Isaiah,  instead  of  his 
lofty  strains,  expressed,  or  attempted  to  ex- 

1  See  Introduction  in  Campbell's  translation  of  Hugo 
Grotius'  "  War  and  Peace." 


94    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

press  his  thought  in  terms  of  commonplace ; 
had  David,  or  those  who  wrote  the  Psalms, 
been  but  indifferent  in  their  versification ;  had 
Solomon,  or  those  who  wrote  the  Proverbs,  left 
the  world  precepts  of  wisdom  in  an  uncouth 
and  inartistic  form ;  if  the  Hebrew  Bible  as  a 
whole  had  not  been  wrought  in  forms  of  beauty, 
and  had  it  possessed  no  literary  charm  — •  how 
different  the  result  would  have  been ! 

When  that  Divine  Boy  who  was  to  fulfil  the 
prophecies  and  expectations  of  those  Hebrew 
bards  and  prophets  dwelt  in  that  little  hill- 
town  called  Nazareth,  and  when  later  he 
walked  the  shores  of  Galilee,  he  listened  to 
the  voices  of  the  mountains  and  of  the  sea ;  he 
drank  in  the  beauty  of  the  wild  flowers  of 
Palestine,  the  beauty  of  its  birds  of  gorgeous 
plumage,  the  beauty  of  the  lines  of  Hermon, 
of  Tabor,  and  of  Carmel,  the  beauty  of  that 
lake  he  loved  so  well,  and  with  a  nature 
intensely  sensitive  to  all  impulses  of  beauty 
he  clothed  his  teachings  in  exquisite  simplicity 
and  beauty  of  form  of  expression. 

The  message  of  Greece,  the  message  of 
Israel,  the  message  of  Him  for  whose  coming 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          95 

all  that  had  gone  before  was  but  a  preparation, 
was  a  message  of  beauty. 

The  people  of  England  were  a  people  with- 
out books.  The  Bible  became  their  one  book. 
It  touched  their  imaginations,  it  satisfied  their 
vague  artistic  cravings  as  well  as  sounded 
the  depths  of  their  spiritual  natures.  The 
exquisite  pastorals,  the  sublime  strains  of 
prophecy  became  the  daily  food  of  the  English 
people. 

The  Tyndale  Bible  made  the  England  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  Taine  had  before 
him  an  old  Tyndale  Bible  when  he  wrote  in 
his  "History  of  English  Literature": 

"1  have  before  me  one  of  these  old  square 
folios  in  black  letter,  in  which  the  pages,  worn  by 
horny  fingers,  have  been-  patched  together,  in 
which  an  old  engraving  figures  forth  to  the  poor 
folk  the  deeds  and  menaces  of  the  God  of  Israel, 
in  which  the  Preface  and  Table  of  Contents  point 
out  to  simple  people  the  moral  which  is  to  be 
drawn  from  each  tragic  history,  and  the  applica- 
tion which  is  to  be  made  of  each  venerable  pre- 
cept. Hence  have  sprung  much  of  the  English 
language,  and  half  of  the  English  manners;  to 


96    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

this  day  the  country  is  biblical;  it  was  these 
big  books  which  had  transformed  Shakespeare's 
England." 

Carlyle,  in  his  vivid  strokes  of  delineation 
of  the  Puritan  squire  of  the  time  of  Crom- 
well, quotes  one  as  saying,  "He  wore  his 
Bible  doctrine  round  him,  as  our  squire  wears 
his  shot  belt." 

Such  was  the  Europe  of  1620.  We  have 
seen  the  progress  in  science  and  philosophy, 
we  have  watched  the  bound  in  art  and  litera- 
ture, we  have  seen  the  drawn  sword  hanging 
over  all;  and  yet  in  the  midst  of  tramping 
armies,  of  devastated  fields,  of  homes  laid 
waste,  have  noted  the  longing  for  peace,  the 
vision  of  peace  that  men  still  cherished. 

We  have  seen  the  influence  of  the  English 
Bible  upon  the  English  people.  We  have 
hardly  touched  upon  the  persecutions,  the 
hardships  caused  by  religious  intolerance  and 
persecution ;  but  these  are  familiar  to  us  all. 
Let  us  now  for  a  moment  turn  our  attention 
to  that  little  band  of  Pilgrims  who  in  that 
memorable  year  1620  came  across  the  waters 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW   WORLD  97 

that  they  might  found  homes  in  the  New 
World. 

In  the  library  at  the  State  House  in  Boston 
is  to  be  seen  the  original  manuscript  of  Brad- 
ford's "  History  of  the  Plymouth  Plantation  " 
—  sometimes  popularly  called  the  "  Log  of  the 
Mayflower."  Senator  Hoar,  in  speaking  of 
the  efforts  made  to  have  this  relic,  so  dear  to 
us  all,  returned  to  these  shores,  says  of  it:  "It 
then  seemed  to  me,  as  it  now  seems  to  me,  the 
most  precious  manuscript  on  earth,  unless  we 
could  recover  one  of  the  four  Gospels  as  it 
came  in  the  beginning  from  the  pen  of  the 
Evangelist." 

And  this  most  precious  manuscript,  as,  after 
its  many  wanderings,  it  reposes  securely  in  its 
case  in  the  State  House  library,  lies  open  at 
what  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  pages  of  all 
recorded  history.  It  is  that  solemn  covenant 
made  in  the  cabin  of  the  "Mayflower."  It  is 
the  record  of  the  forming  of  an  independent 
government  by  a  feeble  band,  few  in  numbers 
and  scanty  in  resources,  and  yet  strong  in  the 
spirit  of  freedom  dwelling  within  them  and 
in  the  faith  which  had  brought  them  hither. 

7 


98    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO   HISTORY 

Familiar  as  this  document  is,   let  us  read   it 
together  once  more: 

"  la  the  name  of  God,  Amen.  We  whose  names 
are  underwritten,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  dread 
sovereign  Lord,  King  James,  by  the  grace  of  God, 
of  Great  Britain,  France  and  Ireland,  King,  De- 
fender of  the  Faith  &c.  having  undertaken  for  the 
glory  of  God  and  advancement  of  the  Christian 
faith,  and  honor  of  our  King  and  country,  a  voyage 
to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  Northern  parts  of 
Virginia,  do  by  these  presents  solemnly  and  mutu- 
ally in  the  presence  of  God,  and  of  one  another, 
covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together  into  a 
civil  body  politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and 
preservation  and  furtherance  of  the  ends  afore- 
said ;  and  by  virtue  hereof  to  enact,  constitute 
and  frame  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances, 
acts,  constitutions  and  offices,  from  time  to  time, 
as  shall  be  thought  most  meet  and  convenient  for 
the  general  good  of  the  colony,  unto  which  we 
promise  all  due  submission  and  obedience.  In 
witness  whereof  we  have  hereunder  subscribed  our 
names  at  Cape  Cod  the  llth  of  November,  in  the 
year  of  the  reign  of  our  sovereign  lord,  King 
James,  of  England,  France,  and  Ireland  the 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD          99 

eighteenth  and  of  Scotland  the  fifty-fourth.    Anno 
Dom.  1620." 

What  an  interesting  document  is  this  Brad- 
ford manuscript!  In  it  we  can  read  in  the 
very  language  of  the  participants  in  these  in- 
teresting events  the  story  of  the  motives  that 
influenced  them  in  leaving  England,  and  finally 
in  removing  to  these  favoring  shores. 

"  But  after  these  things,"  Governor  Bradford 
tells  us,  having  related  the  formation  of  their 
independent  churches  in  England,  "they  could 
not  long  continue  in  any  peaceable  condition,  but 
were  hunted  and  persecuted  on  every  side,  so  as 
their  former  afflictions  were  but  as  flea-bitings  in 
comparison  with  those  which  now  came  upon 
them.  For  some  were  taken  and  clapt  up  in 
prison,  others  had  their  houses  beset  and  watched 
night  and  day,  and  hardly  escaped  their  hands; 
and  the  most  were  fain  to  flee  and  leave  their 
houses  and  habitations,  and  the  means  of  their 
livelihood.  .  .  .  Yet  seeing  themselves  thus  mo- 
lested, and  that  there  was  no  hope  of  their  con- 
tinuance there,  by  a  joint  consent  they  resolved 
to  go  into  the  Low-Countries,  where  they  heard 
was  freedom  of  Religion  for  all  men." 


100  AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

And  again  Governor  Bradford  shows  us  how 
that  drawn  sword  which  we  have  seen  hover- 
ing so  menacingly  over  all  Europe  was  the 
final  argument  that  sent  those  Pilgrims  to 
seek  a  new  home  across  the  waters.  Speaking 
of  their  sojourn  in  Holland  he  says : 

"  They  lived  here  but  as  men  in  exile  and  in  a 
poor  condition  ;  and  [referring  to  the  dangers  that 
might  beset  them  in  America]  as  great  miseries 
might  possibly  beset  them  in  this  place  [that  is, 
Holland]  for  the  twelve  years  of  truce  were  now 
out  and  there  was  nothing  but  beating  of  drums, 
and  preparing  for  war,  the  events  whereof  are 
always  uncertain.  The  Spaniard  might  prove  as 
cruel  as  the  savages  of  America  and  the  famine 
and  pestilence  as  sore  here  as  there,  and  their 
libertie  less  to  look  out  remedy.  After  many  other 
particular  things  answered  and  alleged  on  both 
sides,  it  was  finally  concluded  by  the  major  part 
to  put  this  design  in  execution,  and  to  prosecute 
it  by  the  best  means  they  could." 

I  have  thought  it  might  be  interesting,  in 
trying  to  complete  our  picture  of  the  time  of 
settlement  and  of  the  year  1620,  to  read  the 
record  of  what  happened  to  these  Pilgrims  on 


HOMES   IN   THE  NEW   WORLD         101 

the  6th  of  December,  1620,  and  to  see  how 
they  passed  that  day.     Here  is  the  record : 

"  The  month  of  November  being  spent  in  these 
affairs,  and  much  foul  weather  falling  in,  the  6th 
of  December  they  sent  out  their  shallop  again 
with  10  of  their  principal  men,  and  some  sea- men, 
upon  further  discovery,  intending  to  circulate 
that  deep  bay  of  Cape  Cod.  The  weather  was 
very  cold,  and  it  froze  so  hard  as  the  spray  of  the 
sea  lighting  on  their  coats,  they  were  as  if  they 
had  been  glazed ;  yet  that  night  betimes  they  got 
down  into  the  bottom  of  the  bay,  and  as  they  drew 
near  shore  they  saw  some  ten  or  twelve  Indians 
very  busy  about  something.  They  landed  about 
a  league  or  two  from  them  and  had  much  ado 
to  put  ashore  anywhere,  it  lay  so  full  of  flats. 
Being  landed,  it  grew  late,  and  they  made  them- 
selves a  barricade  with  logs  and  boughs  as  well  as 
they  could  in  the  time  and  set  out  their  sentinel 
and  betook  them  to  rest,  and  saw  the  smoke  of 
the  fire  the  savages  made  that  night.  When  morn- 
ing was  come  they  divided  their  company,  some  to 
coast  along  the  shore  in  the  boat,  and  the  rest 
marched  through  the  woods  to  see  the  land,  if  any 
fit  place  might  be  for  their  dwelling.  They  came 
also  to  the  place  where  they  saw  the  Indians  the 


102    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

night  before  and  found  they  had  been  cutting  up 
a  great  fish  like  a  grampus,  being  some  2  inches 
thick  of  fat  like  a  hog,  some  pieces  whereof  they 
had  left  by  the  way ;  and  the  shallop  found  two 
more  of  these  fishes  dead  on  the  sands,  a  thing 
usual  after  storms  in  that  place,  by  reason  of  the 
great  flats  of  sand  that  lie  off.  So  they  ranged 
up  and  down  all  the  day,  but  found  no  people  nor 
any  place  they  liked.  When  the  sun  grew  low, 
they  hasted  out  of  the  woods  to  meet  with  their 
shallop,  to  whom  they  made  signs  to  come  to  them 
into  a  creek  hard  by,  the  which  they  did  at  high 
water;  of  which  they  were  very  glad,  for  they 
had  not  seen  each  other  all  the  day,  since  the 
morning.  So  they  made  them  a  barricado  (as 
usually  they  did  every  night)  with  logs,  stakes 
and  thick  pine  boughs,  the  height  of  a  man,  leav- 
ing it  open  to  leeward,  partly  to  shelter  them 
from  the  cold  and  wind  (making  their  fire  in  the 
middle  and  lying  round  about  it),  partly  to  defend 
them  from  any  sudden  assaults  of  the  savages, 
if  they  should  surround  them.  So  being  very 
weary  they  betook  them  to  rest.  But  about  mid- 
night they  heard  a  hideous  and  great  cry  and  their 
sentinel  called  '  Arme,  arme : '  so  they  bestirred 
them  and  stood  to  their  arms,  and  shot  off  a 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD        103 

cupple  of  muskets  and  then  the  noise  ceased. 
They  concluded  it  was  a  company  of  wolves,  or 
such  like  wild  beasts ;  for  one  of  the  sea  men  told 
them  he  had  often  heard  such  a  noise  in  New- 
foundland. So  they  rested  till  about  five  of  the 
clock  in  the  morning ;  for  the  tide  and  their  pur- 
pose to  go  from  thence,  made  them  be  stirring 
betimes.  So  after  prayer  they  prepared  for 
breakfast,  and  it  being  day  dawning,  it  was 
thought  best  to  be  carrying  things  down  to  the 
boat.  But  some  said  it  was  not  best  to  carry  the 
arms  down,  others  said  they  would  be  the  readier, 
for  they  had  wrapped  them  up  in  their  coats 
from  the  dew.  But  some  3  or  4  would  not  carry 
theirs  till  they  went  themselves,  yet  as  it  fell  out, 
the  water  being  not  high  enough,  they  laid  them 
down  on  the  bank  side,  and  came  up  to  breakfast. 
But  presently,  all  on  the  sudden,  they  heard  a 
great  and  strange  cry,  which  they  knew  to  be  the 
same  voices  they  heard  in  the  night,  though  they 
varied  their  notes,  and  one  of  their  company  being 
abroad  came  running  in  and  cried  '  Men,  Indeans, 
Indeans : '  and  withall  their  arrows  came  flying 
amongst  them.  Their  men  ran  with  all  speed  to 
recover  their  arms,  as  by  the  good  providence  of 
God  they  did.  In  the  mean  time  of  those  that 


104    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

were  there  ready,  two  muskets  were  discharged  at 
them,  and  two  more  stood  ready,  in  the  entrance 
of  their  rendezvous,  but  were  commanded  not  to 
shoot  till  they  could  take  full  aim  at  them ;  and 
the  other  two  charged  again  with  all  speed,  for 
there  were  only  four  had  arms  there  and  defended 
the  barricade  which  was  first  assaulted.  The  cry 
of  the  Indians  was  dreadful,  especially  when  they 
saw  the  men  run  out  the  rendezvous  towards  the 
shallop,  to  recover  their  arms,  the  Indians  wheel- 
ing about  upon  them.  But  some  running  out  with 
coats  of  mail  on,  and  cutlasses  in  their  hands, 
they  soon  got  their  arms,  and  let  fly  amongst  them 
and  quickly  stopped  their  violence.  Yet  there  was 
a  lustie  man,  and  no  less  valiant,  stood  behind  a 
tree  within  half  a  musket  shot,  and  let  his  arrows 
fly  at  them.  He  was  seen  shoot  three  arrows 
which  were  all  avoided.  He  stood  3  shot  of  a 
musket,  till  one  taking  full  aim  at  him,  made  the 
bark  or  splinters  of  the  tree  fly  about  his  ears, 
after  which  he  gave  an  extraordinary  shriek,  and 
away  they  went  all  of  them.  They  left  some  to 
keep  the  shallop,  and  followed  them  about  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  and  shouted  once  or  twice, 
and  shot  off  2  or  3  pieces  and  so  returned.  This 
they  did  that  they  might  conceive  that  they  were 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD         105 

not  afraid  of  them  or  any  way  discouraged. 
Thus  it  pleased  God  to  vanquish  their  enemies, 
and  give  them  deliverance ;  and  by  his  special 
providence  so  to  dispose  that  not  any  one  of  them 
were  either  hurt  or  hit,  though  their  arrows  came 
close  by  them,  and  on  every  side  of  them,  and 
sundry  of  their  coats,  which  hung  up  in  the  barri- 
cade were  shot  through  and  through.  Afterward 
they  gave  God  solemn  thanks  and  praise  for  their 
deliverance,  and  gathered  up  a  bundle  of  their 
arrows  and  sent  them  into  England  afterward  by 
the  men  of  the  ship,  and  called  that  place  the  first 
encounter."1 

We  cannot  attempt  at  this  time  to  further 
enter  upon  the  graphic  story  of  the  early  set- 
tlement of  these  shores.  It  is  a  story  you  may 
read  for  yourselves.  You  may  read  of  those 
delegates  in  Virginia  summoned  to  the  first  rep- 
resentative body  brought  together  in  America, 
and  who,  having  framed  their  code  of  laws, 
went  on  with  the  building  of  their  houses  and 
the  planting  of  their  corn.  You  may  read  of 
Catholic  Maryland  with  its  mild  and  benefi- 

1  Bradford,  pp.  101-104. 


106     AMERICA  IN   RELATION   TO   HISTORY 

cent  laws  guaranteeing  religious  freedom  and 
toleration.  You  may  read  of  Roger  Williams, 
that  great  apostle  of  the  sanctity  of  the  con- 
science and  of  intellectual  liberty,  and  of  that 
journey  so  graphically  depicted  by  Bancroft, 
through  the  snows  of  winter,  in  an  unknown 
country,  without  a  guide,  no  shelter  save  the 
cabin  of  the  savage,  and  for  food  he  says,  "  The 
ravens  fed  me  in  the  wilderness,"  and  so  he 
came  to  the  place  he  called  Providence.  You 
may  read  of  William  Penn,  that  glorious  youth, 
giving  up  wealth  and  social  position  and  be- 
coming one  of  the  despised  sect  called  Quakers 
that  he  may  devote  his  life  to  the  sublime  prin- 
ciple of  the  liberty  of  conscience.  The  early 
happenings  on  these  shores  are  a  series  of 
romances.  Mr.  Choate,  in  his  address  on  the 
"Importance  of  Illustrating  New  England 
History  by  a  Series  of  Romances,"  and  with 
his  witchery  of  style,  tells  us  that  "it  is 
time  that  literature  and  the  arts  should  at 
least  co-operate  with  history.  Themes  more 
inspiring  or  more  instructive  were  never 
sung  by  old  or  modern  bards  in  hall  or 
bower." 


HOMES  IN  THE  NEW  WORLD         107 

But  we  cannot  pursue  this  theme.  We 
may,  however,  think  of  the  Romance  of  Hu- 
manity as  we  have  seen  it  developing  in  these 
times  of  the  Discovery  and  the  Settlement  of 
America.  We  have  already  referred,  as  one  of 
the  best  definitions  ever  given  of  history,  to 
that  which  terms  it  the  biography  of  hu- 
manity. There  is  a  personal  element  about 
biography  that  catches  the  attention  and 
fastens  the  interest.  If  history  is  indeed 
"a  novel  that  happened  "  then  is  mankind  the 
hero,  and  we  can  think  of  the  unity  and  con- 
tinuity of  history,  of  the  life  of  mankind,  as 
akin  to  the  unity  and  continuity  of  the  life  of 
the  individual  in  his  epochs  of  growth  and  de- 
velopment. And  nowhere  does  this  element 
of  personality  appeal  to  us  more  strongly  than 
in  the  story  of  that  new  individual  born  in  the 
glories  of  the  Renaissance,  with  the  spirit  of 
Dante  still  hovering  grandly  over  the  scene, 
partaking  of  that  youthful  freshness  and  joy- 
ousness  of  the  Grecian  spirit  which  again  re- 
turned under  the  Italian  skies,  called  to 
manhood  by  the  stern  struggles  of  the  Ref- 
ormation and  working  out  his  destiny  of  Free- 


10$    JLMEEICA  IX  WUO3XB&  TO  HKTOET 

dom.  botfi.  tm  tfee  OM  Wocfid  and  en 
precepting  Wescem  skores. 

us  re333d3ib€3?'  tEmfe  UTS'  sjw  tracing 

of  fefce  Ansezieaiii  Mtwifmi 
staaiy-  we  are-  toaeing-  is  t&e  stxasj  c€  tihe 
of  modern  Eberlrtr. 


Two  voiices  ar»  ii«re;.  one  ia  of  che 
Otte  of  t&ti  moaaaihiiv  aauih.  i 

la.  bock  firam.  acce-  to  iff*  t&ca  c&fet 
were  UJIT  iaosen. 


m 


THE   FKilWATn  CQSTESTIOSr  JL5B  TUB 
JLDOFTIOX  OF  THE 


Ill 


THE  FEDERAL  CONVENTION  AND  THE 
ADOPTION  OF  THE  CONSTITUTION 

IN  the  previous  chapters  we  have  taken  1492 
and  1620  as  our  pivotal  dates.  Now  our 
groupings  will  cluster  about  1788,  the  date  of 
the  adoption  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  We  will  try  to  catch  the  meaning  and 
the  spirit  of  the  eighteenth  century.  And 
what  a  wonderful  century,  and  what  a  wonder- 
ful spirit  it  was!  I  am  more  and  more  im- 
pressed with  the  glory  of  the  epochs  that  mark 
the  vital  periods  of  our  national  history.  It 
is  a  wonderful  story,  and  a  story  of  which  we 
can  never  tire,  since  it  comprehends  all  that  is 
most  interesting  in  modern  history.  And  a 
very  practical  story  withal,  since  it  reveals  the 
meaning  of  our  existence  as  a  free  people 
and  teaches  us  the  lessons  necessary  for  our 
preservation. 


112 

At  the  Albany  conference,  in  1754,  one  of 
the  River  Indians  in  addressing  the  representa- 
tives of  the  Colonies  said : 

"  We  view  you  now  as  a  very  large  tree  which 
has  taken  deep  root  in  the  ground,  whose  branches 
are  spread  very  wide.  We  stand  by  the  body  of 
this  tree,  and  we  look  round  to  see  if  there  be  any 
who  endeavor  to  hurt  it,  and  if  it  should  so  happen 
that  any  are  powerful  enough  to  destroy  it,  we 
are  really  to  fall  with  it." 

On  another  occasion  Cadiane,  a  Mohawk 
chief,  with  the  like  imagery  so  natural  to  his 
race,  said : 

"  We  now  plant  a  tree  whose  top  will  reach  the 
sun,  and  its  branches  spread  far  abroad,  so  that 
it  shall  be  seen  afar  off,  and  we  shall  shelter  our- 
selves under  it,  and  live  in  peace  without  moles- 
tation." 

When  Hegel,  the  great  philosopher,  wished 
to  make  plain  the  meaning  of  the  State  he 
likened  it  to  a  tree.  The  unlettered  Indian 
and  the  polished  philosopher  both  found  in  the 
tree  a  fit  representation  or  symbol  of  the 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    113 

political  life  which  they  were  contemplating. 
The  sage  and  the  savage  both  turned  naturally 
to  a  biological  simile.  The  instinct  of  the  one 
and  the  trained  mind  of  the  other  agreed  in 
recognizing  a  principle  of  life,  of  growth,  in 
all  political  association,  in  any  body  giving 
shape  to  such  association.  In  like  manner  we 
may  find  in  the  tree  a  helpful  symbol  to  assist 
us  in  understanding  the  measure  of  life  and 
growth  to  which  the  State  had  attained  in  the 
time  of  nationality,  the  time  of  the  Federal 
Convention  and  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion. For  the  plant  which  we  have  seen  as  a 
tender  shoot  deriving  its  nourishment  from  the 
food  or  initial  leaves,  that  plant  whose  growth 
we  have  watched  through  the  periods  of  dis- 
covery and  settlement,  has  now  attained  the 
symmetry  and  completeness  and  strength  of 
the  tree.  Yet  is  the  influence  imparted  by 
those  first  leaves,  Greece  and  Israel,  still  mani- 
fest and  still  controlling  in  the  mature  growth 
of  the  tree.  In  science,  in  art,  and  in  phi- 
losophy, which  we  have  seen  to  be  distinctly 
Grecian  in  their  origin,  the  progress  was  marked 
and  brilliant  in  this  tune  of  nationality.  Cuvier 

8 


114    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

constructs  a  system  of  comparative  anatomy 
and  classifies  the  animal  kingdom.  Bichat,  fol- 
lowing a  different  method,  compares  the  tissues 
of  animals  and  establishes  a  system  by  follow- 
ing which  Agassiz  made  his  brilliant  discovery 
that  by  the  study  of  the  tegumentary  mem- 
brane of  fishes  the  whole  animal  may  be  recon- 
structed, even  though  all  save  this  membrane 
has  been  destroyed,  and  created  the  department 
of  fossil  icthyology.  Watt  perfects  the  steam- 
engine,  and  the  spinning-jenny  is  invented. 
Priestley  is  conducting  his  brilliant  experiments 
in  chemistry.  In  this  country  the  first  medical 
school  was  organized  at  Philadelphia  in  1765. 
The  clergy  had  quite  generally  acted  as  physi- 
cians in  colonial  times.  There  was  but  little 
trained  medical  aid  in  those  early  days  when 
"  the  day  star  sickened  at  the  desolation  of  the 
pestilence."  The  second  medical  school  was 
that  of  the  city  of  New  York  under  the  charter 
of  King's  College,  in  1767.  The  third  was  at 
Harvard  in  1782.  The  fourth  at  Dartmouth 
in  1797. 

In  1748  was  published  Montesquieu's  "  Spirit 
of  Laws."     Between  1745  and  1765  appeared 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    115 

the  successive  volumes  of  that  great  "  Encyclo- 
paedia" to  which  Diderot  devoted  the  strength 
of  his  life.  "  Prodigious  sibyl  of  the  eighteenth 
century,"  so  Michelet  calls  him,  "  the  mighty 
magician  Diderot!  He  breathed  out  one  day 
a  breath;  lo,  there  sprang  up  a  man  —  Rous- 
seau." l  Now  perhaps  such  a  vivid  statement 
as  this  exaggerates  the  fact.  But  with  the  im- 
pressionable nature  of  a  Rousseau  it  is  easy  to 
see  how  a  Diderot,  with  his  great  passion  for  the 
work  he  had  set  himself  to,  and  with  his  genius 
for  enlisting  others  in  his  undertakings,  might 
have  exerted  almost  a  creative  influence.  Then 
there  were  D'Alembert,  Voltaire,  and  a  brilliant 
list  of  the  thinkers  of  the  day ;  all  contributing 
to  and  working  for  the  "  Encyclopaedia  "  which 
was  to  open  up  a  discussion  on  a  great  variety 
of  subjects  and  lead  men  away  from  petrified 
forms  of  thought.  In  1776  Adam  Smith  pub- 
lished his  "  Wealth  of  Nations."  A  yet  more 
remarkable  index  of  the  times  were  the 
immortal  works  of  Inimanuel  Kant.  Schiller 
and  Robert  Burns  were  both  born  in  1759. 
While  still  at  school  Schiller,  in  1773,  brought 

1  Morley's  Diderot,  vol.  i.  p.  110. 


116    AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

out  "  The  Robbers,"  a  book  which  created  great 
excitement  and  was  considered  revolutionary 
in  its  tendency.  In  1788  Schiller  published 
the  Revolt  of  the  Netherlands,  and  in  1791  the 
History  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 

In  December,  1792,  Schiller  declared  con- 
cerning the  execution  of  Louis  XVI., "  It  is  the 
work  of  passion  and  not  of  that  wisdom  which 
alone  can  lead  to  real  liberty."  Indicating 
what  were  alone  the  principles  which  could 
form  the  basis  of  a  political  constitution,  which 
should  ensure  happiness  and  stability,  he 
pointed  to  a  volume  of  Kant's  "  Critique  of  Pure 
Reason  "  and  said :  "  There  they  are  and  no- 
where else.  The  French  Republic  will  fall  as 
rapidly  as  it  has  risen.  The  Republican  Gov- 
ernment will  lapse  into  anarchy,  and  sooner  or 
later  a  man  of  genius  will  appear  (he  may  come 
from  any  place)  who  will  make  himself  not 
only  master  of  France,  but  perhaps  also  of  a 
great  part  of  Europe." 

Schiller  devoted  much  energy  to  his  aesthetic 
theory.  He  taught  that  mankind  can  only 
be  emancipated  by  a  recognition  of  the  beauti- 
ful, what  he  called  "the  cognition  of  beauty." 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    117 

So,  too,  Sociology  as  a  distinct  science  or 
discipline  dates  its  origin  from  Schiller  and 
those  associated  with  him. 

It  is  the  time  of  Crabbe  and  Cowper,  and 
Wordsworth  is  coming  upon  the  scene.  Gib- 
bon is  dignifying  the  art  of  history.  Goethe 
is  constructing  enduring  monuments  of  thought 
and  expression.  Yes,  he  is  doing  more  than 
this ;  in  his  garden  and  in  his  walks  he  learns 
to  know  the  plants  and  to  discover  many  of 
their  secrets.  He  makes  a  careful  study  of  the 
leaf,  and  in  1790  he  published  his  work  on  the 
"Metamorphoses  of  Plants."  In  this  work 
Goethe  demonstrated  that  all  parts  of  the 
flower  —  the  pistil,  the  stamen,  the  corolla  — 
are  but  modified  or  metamorphosed  leaves. 
So,  too,  he  advanced  the  theory  that  the  skull 
is  but  a  modification  or  variation  of  the  verte- 
bra. By  his  studies  in  botany  and  compara- 
tive anatomy  he  reached  the  conclusion  that 
all  the  forms  of  plant  and  animal  life  are 
modifications  of,  have  been  evolved  from, 
fewer  and  simpler  parent  types.  So  Goethe 
the  poet,  together  with  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin, 
Immanuel  Kant,  Buff  on,  and  others,  who 


118    AMERICA  IN  RELATION"  TO  HISTORY 

worked  with  them,  founded  the  modern  doc- 
trine of  Evolution,  and  a  new  era  in  thought 
dates  from  this  time. 

Goethe  and  Schiller  stand  out  as  central 
figures  in  that  wonderful  time  of  develop- 
ment of  German  thought  and  culture,  that 
time  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  grouped 
about  them  are  other  figures  hardly  less  impor- 
tant. Kant's  "  Observations  on  the  Sublime  " 
was  published  in  1764,  and  the  same  year  ap- 
peared Winckelmann's  "History  of  Art,"  that 
interpreter  of  the  Greeks,  that  "  Revelation  of 
the  Hellenic  World  "  as  it  has  been  called.  In 
1766  Lessing  gave  to  the  world  his  "  Laocoon  " 
and  Herder  his  "Fragments." 

Between  1760  and  1780  were  born  Schel- 
ling,  the  two  Schlegels,  the  two  Humboldts, 
Tieck,  Rahel,  Schleiermacher,  Niebuhr,  and 
Savigny. 

The  massive  and  constructive  intellect  of 
Hegel  a  little  later  summed  up  and  embodied 
the  work  of  the  great  German  thinkers  of  the 
eighteenth  century.1 

1  See  German  Thought  from  the  Seven  Years'  War  to 
Goethe's  Death,  by  Karl  Hillebrand,  pp.  87-88. 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    119 

We  have  selected  the  tree  as  a  fitting  symbol 
for  the  State,  as  representing  the  idea  of  the 
State  as  an  organic  growth. 

The  human  intellect  has  never  evolved  a 
more  magnificent  conception  than  Hegel's 
Universal  State  as  the  Realization  of  Free- 
dom. It  was  a  conception  resulting  from  the 
thought  of  Goethe  and  Schiller,  of  Kant,  of 
Schlegel,  of  Herder,  of  that  school  of  German 
thought  of  the  eighteenth  century  which  we 
have  hastily  touched  upon.  The  Federal 
Convention  embodied  in  our  Constitution  an 
expression  of  the  growth  to  which  the  State 
had  then  attained.  In  order  to  understand 
that  Constitution  in  its  wider  and  completer 
meanings,  we  must  grasp  this  idea  of  the  Uni- 
versal State,  and  we  must  think  of  that  Fed- 
eral Convention,  not  alone  as  fashioning  a 
frame  of  government  for  themselves  and  for 
us,  but  as  putting  into  tangible  shape,  into  a 
realized  form,  that  growth  in  freedom  which 
had  not  been  confined  to  these  shores  alone. 
We  must  think  of  our  Constitution  as  a  realiza- 
tion, a  carrying  out,  of  the  higher  and  better 
will  of  the  individual  in  the  will  of  the  whole, 
the  will  of  the  State. 


120    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

During  our  struggle  for  independence  and 
for  nationality,  Immanuel  Kant  had  been  writ- 
ing his  remarkable  series  of  political  tracts, 
among  them  being  that  on  a  Cosmopolitical 
State.  In  1795  he  published  his  Essay  on 
"Perpetual  Peace,"  written,  we  can  but  think, 
in  view  of  the  recent  establishment  of  our  form 
of  government.  In  it  he  used  this  language : 

"  For  if  happy  circumstances  bring  it  about  that 
a  powerful  and  enlightened  people  form  themselves 
into  a  republic  which  by  its  very  nature  must  be 
disposed  in  favor  of  Perpetual  Peace  —  this  will 
furnish  a  centre  of  federative  union  for  other 
States  to  attach  themselves  to,  and  thus  to  secure 
the  conditions  of  liberty  among  all  States,  accord- 
ing to  the  idea  of  the  Right  of  Nations.  And 
such  a  Union  would  extend  wider  and  wider  in 
the  course  of  time,  by  the  addition  of  further 
connections  of  this  kind." 

The  conception  of  the  Universal  State  was 
already  attained  and  the  massive  intellect  of 
Hegel  could  only  develop  it  to  its  grand  pro- 
portions. To  catch  the  meaning  of  this  Uni- 
versal State  we  may  compare  the  mind  and 
will  of  the  child  with  the  mind  and  will  of 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    121 

the  man.  The  child  secures  his  individual 
right,  his  individual  liberty,  by  simple  obedi- 
ence to  the  will  of  others.  He  has  no  con- 
scious will  to  find  satisfaction  through  its 
fulfilment  by  the  will  of  others.  He  has  a 
certain  satisfaction  and  repose,  but  it  is  the 
unthinking  satisfaction  and  repose  of  the  child. 
With  manhood  comes  the  thinking  conscious 
will  demanding  its  satisfaction  and  the  realiza- 
tion of  its  freedom.  This  it  can  never  attain 
alone.  The  one  man  away  from  his  fellows  is 
the  veriest  bondsman.  He  can  hardly  sustain 
his  own  existence.  He  loses  the  power  of 
speech  and  almost  the  power  of  thought.  *  He 
takes  to  the  trees  perhaps  and  becomes  nearer 
a  brute  than  a  man.  Growth,  development, 
any  real  sense  of  satisfaction  are  impossible. 
Put  him  in  society,  and  simply  as  the  one 
man  he  is  completely  fettered.  His  higher 
nature,  his  better  will,  is  struggling  for  ex- 
pression, for  exercise,  and  can  never  find 
these  but  in  the  will  of  the  whole,  the  will  of 
the  State.  Thus  Aristotle  says : 

"  He  who  by  nature  and  not  by  mere  accident  is 
without  a  State  is  either  above  humanity  or  below 


122    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

it ;  he  is  that  tribeless,  lawless,  hearthless  one 
whom  Homer  denounces,  the  outcast  who  is  a 
lover  of  war;  he  may  be  compared  to  a  bird 
which  flies  alone.  .  .  .  He  who  is  unable  to  live 
in  society,  or  who  has  no  need  because  he  is 
sufficient  for  himself,  must  be  either  a  beast  or 
a  God ;  he  is  no  part  of  a  State." 

Love  of  country,  the  clinging  to  nationality, 
is  not  a  mere  sentiment ;  it  is  the  recognition 
by  the  man  that  only  through  the  State,  the 
organized  better  will  of  the  whole,  can  his  own 
individual  freedom  find  its  satisfaction  and  its 
realization.  The  Universal  State  denotes  the 
realization  of  this  higher  and  better  will  of  the 
individual  through  the  will  of  that  great  uni- 
versal brotherhood  of  man  of  which  the  vari- 
ous nations  are  but  embodied  expressions.  It 
is  higher  than  all  nationalities,  it  is  inclusive 
of  all  nationalities. 

Our  own  country  may  thus  be  seen  to  be  a 
peculiarly  fitting  central  point  to  serve  for  a 
study  of  history  and  of  the  growth  of  the 
State ;  for  here  came  those  of  many  nationali- 
ties, and  they  came  at  a  time  when  national 
ties  were  broken  and  when  a  new  expression 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    123 

of  the  tree  of  the  State  was  vital  to  their  well- 
being.  They  had  been  growing  and  here  con- 
tinued to  grow  into  a  certain  relationship  which 
in  these  United  States  expressed  itself  in  a  more 
nearly  cosmopolitical  experiment  of  government 
than  had  heretofore  been  tried  by  men. 

The  State  springs  from  the  very  nature  and 
being  of  man  himself.  A  philosopher  has 
said:  "History  does  not  study  material  facts 
and  institutions  alone;  its  true  object  of 
study  is  the  human  soul."  Again,  history 
has  been  defined  as  the  biography  of  human- 
ity. It  is  only  by  a  study  of  the  individual, 
of  man  himself,  at  a  given  period,  that  we  can 
hope  to  understand  the  political  systems  he 
may  formulate.  The  State  is  an  expression 
of  the  political  nature  of  man.  The  individual 
State  or  nation  embodies  the  growth  to  which 
his  nature  has  attained  at  a  given  time  and 
in  a  given  place.  The  individual  and  the 
State  are  thus  seen  to  be  linked  together  by 
inseparable  bonds. 

To  what  growth,  then,  has  that  individual 
attained  whom  we  saw  in  the  time  of  the 
Renaissance  awakening  as  from  a  sleep?  He 


124    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

has  broken  loose  from  the  old  trammels  and 
superstitions.  He  is  no  longer  enslaved  by 
the  traditions  of  the  past.  He  is  open-eyed, 
alert,  active-minded.  He  will  no  longer  move 
in  herds  or  masses,  but  asserts  his  individu- 
ality, his  personality.  His  fight  has  been  a 
hard  one  against  tyranny  in  Church  and 
tyranny  in  State.  He  grows  strong  by  strug- 
gling. This  individual  who  by  the  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  became  formally  an 
American  citizen  is  indeed  no  weakling.  He 
has  taken  part  in  the  conflicts  of  the  Old 
World.  He  comes  to  the  New  World  to  en- 
dure conditions  of  great  stress  and  hardship. 
He  finds  or  makes  a  stealthy  savage  foe.  His 
territory  is  distracted  by  European  struggles 
for  its  possession,  and  he  is  obliged  to  exert 
his  fullest  energy  in  the  battle  for  his  inde- 
pendence. This  American  citizen,  then,  is  of 
rugged  mould  and  he  has  been  reared  in  the 
stern  school  of  conflict.  If  he  has  cast  off  old 
delusions  yet  he  has  come  into  full  possession 
of  his  just  heritage  of  the  past;  Greece,  Rome, 
and  Israel  still  speak  to  him.  The  fairest 
flowers  of  art,  science,  and  philosophy  have 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    125 

blossomed  along  the  stony  path  which  he  has 
trod.  His  is  no  narrow  point  of  view.  He 
is  a  cosmopolitan  by  heredity  and  by  training. 
What  kind  of  a  world  it  was  when  he  found 
himself  called  upon  to  establish  a  new  fabric 
of  government  we  have  endeavored  to  indicate. 
Two  or  three  supreme  facts  may  again  picture 
forth  the  age.  Fact  first:  that  strange,  that 
terrible,  that  overturning  yet  sky-clearing  phe- 
nomenon, the  French  Revolution,  is  at  hand. 
You  will  remember  that  Washington  was 
hardly  fairly  seated  in  the  presidential  chair 
when  Lafayette  sends  him  the  key  of  the 
Bastille. 

Fact  second:  the  poet  Goethe  and  a  group 
of  scientists,  among  them  being  Oken,  D*. 
Erasmus  Darwin,  and  Buffon,  are  founding  the 
modern  science  of  Evolution. 

Fact  third;  a  man  named  Immanuel  Kant 
is  doing  some  of  the  greatest  thinking  that 
this  world  has  ever  known.  An  age  of  revo- 
lution, an  age  of  evolution  —  above  all,  an  age 
of  clear  thinking.  An  age  of  great  progress ; 
modern  England  springs  into  life;  she  casts 
out  slavery,  she  puts  an  end  to  tyranny,  she 


126    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

develops  her  resources  and  invents  the  steam- 
engine  and  the  spinning-jenny ;  apparently 
half  glad  of  a  Yorktown,  she  soon  wins  a 
Waterloo.  In  Prussia  we  have  Frederick  the 
Great  and  a  government  based  on  reason  and 
right.  It  is  an  age  producing  newspapers, 
public  schools,  medical  colleges,  and  hospitals. 
It  is  an  age  of  wild  upheavals,  yet  of  illumina- 
tion, of  philanthropy,  of  philosophy. 

It  is  easy  to  make  a  dramatic  picture  by 
setting  forth  the  conditions  existing  just  previ- 
ous to  the  meeting  of  the  Federal  Convention 
and  then  proceeding  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
making  of  the  Constitution;  and  such  a  pict- 
ure is  in  a  sense  a  true  and  just  one.  Our 
interstate  warfares,  our  internal  discords,  our 
lack  of  credit  at  home  or  abroad,  our  inability 
to  make  or  protect  treaties  with  foreign  nations, 
our  migratory  congress,  our  thirteen  separate 
sovereignties  at  constant  variance  with  each 
other,  —  all  the  existing  conditions  were  such 
as  to  make  every  patriot  solicitous  and  appre- 
hensive. And  yet,  as  we  have  seen,  there  had 
been  such  a  growth  in  the  development  of  the 
State  that  we  have  likened  it  unto  a  tree,  and 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    127 

there  had  been  such  a  growth  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  individual  that  we  have  been  able 
to  watch  his  coming  into  the  proportions  of 
the  son  of  liberty.  Perhaps  a  calmer  and 
juster  view  of  the  Constitution  would  be 
gained  by  considering  the  development  going 
on  for  so  many  years  in  the  various  colonial 
and  State  governments,  and  in  looking  at  the 
first  steps  which  were  taken  toward  a  union  of 
the  colonies,  rather  than  by  such  a  dramatic 
picture  as  we  have  indicated. 

Propositions  for  a  union  of  the  colonies  be- 
gan to  appear  at  a  very  early  date.  One  was 
made  in  1637,  another  in  1639,  and  others  in 
1640  and  1642.  In  1643  a  confederation  was 
formed  under  the  title  of  "The  United  Col- 
onies of  New  England."  It  was  practically  a 
league  of  defence,  and  was  rendered  necessary 
by  the  attacks  of  the  Indians.  Nevertheless 
it  excited  the  jealousy  of  Great  Britain  and 
was  claimed  by  her  to  be  an  attempt  to  estab- 
lish an  independent  sovereignty.  This  New 
England  Confederation  may  be  said  to  have 
been  the  first  step  towards  a  union  of  the  col- 
onies, and  you  will  note  that  it  was  taken  at 


128    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

the  time  of  that  great  English  step  towards  a 
fairer  and  freer  government;  that  it  was  the 
time  of  the  England  of  Hampden  and  Crom- 
well, the  time  of  the  overthrow  of  the  tyranny 
of  Charles  the  First. 

On  February  8,  1690,  what  was  then  the 
quiet  little  town  of  Schenectady  was  awakened 
from  its  midnight  sleep  by  the  war-whoop  of 
Indians,  and  the  unhappy  inhabitants  aroused 
themselves  only  to  become  the  victims  of  a 
terrible  massacre.  This  event  taught  sternly 
the  lesson  of  the  need  of  a  better  union  of  the 
colonies  and  resulted  in  the  Congress  of  1690. 
From  the  time  of  this  Congress  of  1690  the 
logic  of  events  moved  steadily  on  towards  a 
union  of  the  colonies.  The  need  of  some  form 
of  constitution  was  recognized  and  found  fre- 
quent expression.  William  Penn's  plan  of 
1698  is  one  of  the  most  notable  suggestions 
in  writing  of  a  scheme  of  government.  A 
series  of  conventions  or  congresses  were  held 
between  1690  and  1750,  at  which  joint  steps 
were  taken  for  self-defence  and  treaties  were 
made  with  the  Indians.  In  1745  occurred  the 
dramatic  episode  of  the  Siege  of  Louisburg. 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    129 

Franklin's  famous  picture  of  the  snake  cut 
into  thirteen  pieces,  each  piece  bearing  the 
initial  of  one  of  the  colonies,  and  underneath 
the  legend  Join  or  Die,  appeared  in  the  "  Phila- 
delphia Gazette  "  in  May,  1754,  just  before  he 
started  for  the  Albany  Congress.  The  cele- 
brated Albany  plan,  while  not  adopted,  shows 
clearly  that  Franklin  had  mastered  some  of  the 
fundamental  principles  which  were  later  to  be 
embodied  in  our  Constitution.  It  is  claimed 
with  considerable  degree  of  justice  that  in 
Franklin's  correspondence  with  Governor  Shir- 
ley in  1755  he  advanced  every  argument  and 
idea  subsequently  brought  out  in  the  Stamp 
Act  debates.  Following  the  Albany  congress 
of  1754  came  the  Seven  Years'  War  in  which 
Frederick  received  his  title  of  the  Great,  — 
that  war  which  has  so  often  been  called  the 
school  for  the  American  Revolution,  that  war 
in  which  Washington  received  his  military 
training.  The  revolution,  independence,  and 
the  federation  soon  followed.  The  federa- 
tion was  indeed  a  loose  and  unsatisfactory 
bond,  and  it  was  evident  that  a  fabric  of  gov- 
ernment must  be  constructed  which  should 

9 


130    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

rise  to  the  full  dignity  and  completeness  of  a 
nation. 

We  cannot  understand  the  history  of  the 
American  colonies  or  the  events  and  the  proc- 
ess of  development  which  ripened  them  for  a 
federative  bond  unless  we  take  due  account 
of  that  great  struggle  for  supremacy  on  the 
North  American  Continent  which  was  being 
waged  between  France  and  England.  And 
here  the  Five  Nations  appear  as  a  dramatic 
and  controlling  factor  in  the  situation.  You 
will  remember  the  story  of  the  real  Hiawatha, 
and  of  his  founding  of  this  Iroquois  federa- 
tion of  the  Five  Nations.  As  we  consider  for 
a  moment  the  results  flowing  from  that  piece 
of  constructive  forest  statesmanship,  the  whole 
story  must  appeal  to  our  imagination  and  to 
our  intelligence  as  of  more  fascinating  interest 
than  almost  any  story  of  recorded  history. 
The  Five  Nations  held  geographically  the  key 
to  this  continent.  In  that  long  battle  which 
France  fought  to  drive  the  English  from  their 
position  here,  the  Five  Nations  were  the  one 
invincible  barrier  which  the  French  were  un- 
able to  overcome. 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    131 

But  for  their  friendship,  first  with  the 
Dutch,  and  afterward  with  the  English ;  but  for 
their  prowess  in  war,  the  strength  of  their  po- 
litical organization,  and  their  fidelity  to  their 
treaty  obligations,  North  America  would  have 
been  a  Latin  country,  ruled  by  the  Latin  races 
and  the  Latin  religion.  You  remember  how  on 
that  September  evening  in  1759  Wolfe,  wrapped 
in  his  cloak,  silently  drifted  in  his  boat  upon 
the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  under  the 
cliffs  of  Quebec,  searching  for  a  path  to  the 
summit,  and  was  heard  to  repeat  the  lines  of 
Gray's  "Elegy,"- 

"  The  boast  of  heraldry,  the  pomp  of  power 
And  all  that  beauty,  all  that  wealth  e'er  gave, 
Await  alike  the  inevitable  hour  — 
The  paths  of  glory  lead  but  to  the  grave." 

You  remember  how  on  that  following  morn- 
ing Montcalm  awoke  to  find  the  English  on 
the  Heights  commanding  the  town.  You 
know  that  memorable  conflict  on  the  Heights 
of  Abraham,  how  Wolfe,  wounded  to  the 
death,  heard  the  shout  of  his  soldiers,  "  They 
run,  they  run !  "  and,  knowing  that  the  victory 
had  been  won,  expired,  saying,  "  Now  God  be 


132    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

praised,  I  will  die  in  peace."  Quebec  had 
fallen ;  New  France  was  practically  a  thing  of 
the  past.  But  for  Hiawatha  and  the  Five 
Nations  that  victory  could  never  have  been, 
nor  would  Anglo-Saxon  influences  have  pre- 
vailed upon  this  continent. 

Nor  is  this  the  only  debt  we  owe  to  Hia- 
watha and  the  Five  Nations.  At  Lancaster, 
Pa.,  in  June,  1744,  a  treaty  was  held  with 
the  Six  Nations  (they  having  become  six  by 
the  incorporation  of  the  Tuscaroras  by  con- 
quest) by  the  commissioners  of  Maryland  and 
other  provinces.  The  chief  spokesman  for  the 
Six  Nations  was  Cannassatego,  an  illustrious 
chief  who  is  thus  described :  "  He  was  a  tall, 
well-made  man;  had  a  very  full  chest  and 
brawny  limbs.  He  had  a  manly  countenance, 
mixed  with  a  good-natured  smile.  He  was 
about  sixty  years  of  age,  very  active,  strong, 
and  had  a  surprising  liveliness  in  his  speech. "  1 
With  the  grace  and  dignity  which  mark  the 
Iroquois  as  orators,  Cannassatego  thus  addressed 
the  commissioners  for  the  colonies : 

1  Wm.   Marsh's  Journal;   Mass.  Hist.    Coll.,   1st    Series, 
vol.  vii.  p.   179. 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION   133 

"  Brethren,  we,  the  Six  Nations,  heartily  recom- 
mend union  and  a  good  agreement  between  you, 
our  brethren.  Never  disagree,  but  preserve  a 
strict  friendship  for  one  another ;  and  thereby  you 
as  well  as  we  will  become  the  stronger.  Our  wise 
forefathers  established  union  and  amity  between 
the  Five  Nations.  This  has  made  us  formidable ; 
this  has  given  us  great  weight  and  authority  with 
our  neighboring  nations.  We  are  a  powerful  con- 
federacy; and  if  you  observe  the  same  methods 
our  wise  forefathers  have  taken,  you  will  acquire 
fresh  strength  and  power.  Therefore,  whatever 
befalls  you,  never  fall  out  with  one  another." 

So  spoke  Cannassatego. 

At  Albany,  in  August,  1775,  another  treaty 
convention  was  held  with  the  Six  Nations  by 
the  commissioners  of  the  Twelve  United  Col- 
onies then  assembled  in  general  Congress  at 
Philadelphia.  The  great  pipe  was  lighted  up 
and  went  around,  after  which  one  of  the  com- 
missioners thus  addressed  the  representatives 
of  the  Six  Nations: 

"Brothers:  Our  business  with  you,  besides  re- 
kindling the  ancient  council-fires  and  renewing  the 
covenant,  and  brightening  up  every  link  of  the 


134    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

chain,  is,  in  the  first  place,  to  inform  you  of  the 
advice  that  was  given  about  thirty  years  ago  by 
your  wise  forefathers,  in  the  great  council  which 
they  held  in  Pennsylvania,  when  Cannassatego 
spoke  to  us,  the  white  people,  in  these  very 
words." 

The  commissioner  then  recited  the  speech 
of  Cannassatego  as  we  have  already  heard  it. 

"  Brothers "  (the  commissioner  continued), 
"these  were  the  words  of  Cannassatego.  Our 
forefathers  rejoiced  to  hear  Cannassatego  speak 
these  words.  They  sunk  deep  into  their  hearts. 
The  advice  was  good ;  it  was  kind.  They  said  to 
one  another,  the  Six  Nations  are  a  wise  people. 
Let  us  hearken  to  them  and  take  their  counsel  and 
teach  our  children  to  follow  it.  Our  old  men  have 
done  so.  They  have  frequently  taken  a  single  arrow 
and  said,  '  Children,  see  how  easy  it  is  broken.' 
Then  they  have  taken  and  tied  twelve  arrows  to- 
gether with  a  strong  string  or  cord,  and  our 
strongest  men  could  not  break  them.  '  See/  said 
they,  '  this  is  what  the  Six  Nations  mean.  Divided, 
a  single  man  may  destroy  yon  ;  united,  you  are  a 
match  for  the  whole  world.'  We  thank  the  great 
God  that  we  are  all  united  ;  that  we  have  a  strong 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    135 

confederacy ;  composed  of  twelve  provinces,  New 
Hampshire,  &c.  These  provinces  have  lighted  a 
great  council- fire  at  Philadelphia,  and  have  sent 
sixty-five  councillors  to  speak  and  act  in  the 
name  of  the  whole,  and  consult  for  the  common 
good  of  the  people  and  of  you  our  brethren 
of  the  Six  Nations,  and  your  allies;  and  the 
talk  of  this  great  council  we  shall  deliver  to  you 
to-morrow."  1 

Consider  for  a  moment  the  circumstances 
attending  this  treaty  at  Albany  in  August, 
1775:  the  war  of  the  Revolution  fairly  com- 
menced; Lexington  and  Concord  the  previous 
April ;  the  capture  of  Ticonderoga  and  Crown 
Point  in  May ;  and  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill 
in  the  preceding  June ;  the  Continental  Con- 
gress in  session  at  Philadelphia ;  another  expe- 
dition to  Canada  just  under  way ;  Carleton,  the 
English  general  in  Canada,  arming  the  In- 
dians against  us. 

It  was  at  such  a  moment  that  our  fathers 
met  the  Five  Nations  in  treaty  at  Albany, 
brightened  the  links  in  the  ancient  chain  of 
friendship,  and  paid  their  tribute  not  only  to 

1  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.,  3d  Series,  vol.  v.  pp.  83,  84. 


136     AMERICA  IX  RELATION   TO   HISTORY 

the  advice  of  Cannassatego  in  favor  of  union, 
but  to  the  splendid  object  lesson  which  the 
federation  of  the  Five  Nations  had  been  to 
them  through  all  these  years. 

It  is  surely  worth  our  while  to  consider  the 
character  both  of  the  form  of  government  and 
of  the  people  themselves  that  have  exerted 
such  an  influence  upon  our  national  history. 
The  Five  Nations,  then,  were  a  league  or 
confederacy  constituting  a  republic  and  based 
upon  representative  government  and  popular 
sovereignty.  Each  of  these  five  nations  was 
an  absolute  republic  by  itself.  Matters  of 
general  concern  were  transacted  in  a  general 
meeting  of  the  sachems  of  each  nation  held 
usually  at  Onondaga.  This  was  their  Con- 
gress or  Senate.  Every  castle  in  each  nation 
had  its  own  independent  government  conducted 
by  its  own  sachems  or  old  men.  Thus  we 
have  the  principle  of  home  rule  adopted  in 
the  government  of  what  answered  to  them  as 
their  cities.  The  authority  of  the  rulers  was 
gained  by  and  rested  upon  the  opinion  the 
rest  of  the  nation  had  of  their  wisdom  and 
integrity.  The  rulers  and  captains  served 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    137 

without  pay  and  were  generally  poorer  than 
the  rest  of  the  people.  Honor  and  esteem, 
and  not  salary,  were  their  reward ;  no  one  at- 
tained to  high  position  except  by  merit.  As 
the  authority  of  their  great  men  rested  upon 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  people,  this 
authority  ceased  when  these  were  lost. 

As  a  people  they  were  distinguished  by  love 
of  liberty,  fidelity  to  treaty  obligations,  great 
valor  in  war,  and  a  dauntless  and  unconquer- 
able spirit;  withal  possessing  a  high  sense 
of  superiority  and  calling  themselves  by  an 
Indian  name  which  signifies  "  men  surpassing 
all  others." 

Their  great  fault  was  cruelty  to  their  ene- 
mies, but  in  this  they  are  not  unlike  most 
other  primitive  peoples.  In  Colden's  very 
interesting  "History  of  the  Five  Nations" 
we  find  a  delineation  of  the  character  of  this 
people  by  one  who  had  opportunity  to  ob- 
serve them  closely.  He  says: 

"  The  Five  Nations  are  a  poor,  and  generally 
called  barbarous  people,  bred  under  the  darkest 
ignorance;  and  yet  a  bright  and  noble  genius 
shines  through  these  black  clouds.  None  of  the 


138    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

greatest  Roman  heroes  have  discovered  a  greater 
love  to  their  country,  or  a  greater  contempt  of 
death,  than  these  people  called  Barbarians  have 
done,  when  Liberty  came  in  competition.  Indeed, 
I  think  our  Indians  have  outdone  the  Romans 
in  this  particular;  some  of  the  greatest  of  those 
have,  we  know,  murdered  themselves  to  avoid 
shame  or  torments ;  but  our  Indians  have  refused 
to  die  meanly,  or  with  but  little  pain,  when  they 
thought  their  country's  honor  would  be  at  stake  by 
it;  but  have  given  their  bodies  willingly  to  the 
most  cruel  torments  of  their  enemies  to  show,  as 
they  said,  that  the  Five  Nations  consisted  of  Men, 
whose  courage  and  resolution  could  not  be  shaken. 
They  greatly  sully,  however,  these  noble  virtues 
by  that  cruel  passion,  Revenge ;  this  they  think  is 
not  only  lawful  but  honorable,  to  exert  without 
mercy  upon  their  country's  enemies,  and  for  this 
only  it  is  that  they  can  deserve  the  name  of 
Barbarians." 

These  people  of  the  Five  Nations,  fierce, 
but  brave  and  noble  and  with  a  genius  for 
government,  were  not  without  their  literary 
and  poetic  gifts.  The  myths  and  tales  of  the 
Iroquois  are  most  interesting  reading.  Here 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    139 

is  one  taken  from  the  second  annual  Report  of 
the  United  States  Bureau  of  Ethnology.  It 
is  there  called  "A  Seneca  Legend  of  Hi-Nu 
and  Niagara,"  but  I  should  call  it 

"A  LEGEND  OF  THE  HORSE-SHOE  FALLS. 

"A  beautiful  Indian  maiden  was  about  to  be 
compelled  by  her  family  to  marry  a  hideous  old 
Indian.  Despair  was  in  her  heart.  She  knew 
that  there  was  no  escape  for  her.  So  in  despera- 
tion she  leaped  into  her  canoe  and  pushed  it  from 
the  shore  on  the  roaring  waters  of  Niagara.  She 
heeded  not  that  she  was  going  to  her  death,  pre- 
ferring the  angry  waters  to  the  arms  of  her 
detested  lover.  Now,  the  God  of  Clouds  and 
and  Rain,  the  great  deity  Hi-Nu,  who  watches 
over  the  harvest,  dwelt  in  a  cave  behind  the  rush- 
ing waters.  From  his  home  he  saw  the  desperate 
launching  of  the  maiden's  canoe;  saw  her  going 
to  almost  certain  destruction.  He  spread  out  his 
wings  and  flew  to  her  rescue,  and  caught  her  just 
as  her  frail  bark  was  dashing  on  the  rocks  below. 
The  grateful  Indian  girl  lived  for  many  weeks  in 
Hi-Nu's  cave.  He  taught  her  many  new  things. 
She  learned  from  him  why  her  people  died  so  often 
—  why  sickness  was  always  busy  among  them. 


140    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

He  told  her  how  a  snake  lay  coiled  up  under  the 
ground  beneath  the  village,  and  how  he  crept  out 
and  poisoned  the  springs,  because  he  lived  upon 
human  beings  and  craved  their  flesh  more  and 
more,  so  that  he  could  never  get  enough  if  they 
died  from  natural  causes. 

"  Hi-Nu  kept  the  maiden  in  till  he  learned  that 
the  ugly  old  suitor  was  dead.  Then  he  bade  her 
return  and  tell  her  tribe  what  she  had  learned  from 
the  great  Hi-Nu.  She  taught  them  all  he  had  told 
her  and  begged  them  to  break  up  their  settlement 
and  travel  nearer  to  the  lake ;  and  her  words  pre- 
vailed. For  a  while  sickness  ceased,  but  it  broke 
out  again,  for  the  serpent  was  far  too  cunning  to 
be  so  easily  outwitted.  He  dragged  himself  slowly 
but  surely  after  the  people,  and  but  for  Hi-Nu's 
influence  would  have  undermined  the  new  settle- 
ment as  he  had  the  former  one.  Hi-Nu  watched 
him  until  he  neared  the  creek,  then  he  launched  a 
thunderbolt  at  him.  A  terrible  noise  awoke  all 
the  dwellers  by  the  lake,  but  the  snake  was  only 
injured,  not  killed.  Hi-Nu  was  forced  to  launch 
another  thunderbolt  and  another  and  another 
before  finally  the  prisoner  was  slain. 

"  The  great  dead  snake  was  so  enormous  that 
when  the  Indians  laid  his  body  out  in  death,  it 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    141 

stretched  more  than  twenty  arrow  flights,  and  as 
he  floated  down  the  waters  of  Niagara  it  was  as 
if  a  mountain  appeared  above  them.  His  corpse 
was  too  large  to  pass  the  rocks,  so  it  became 
wedged  in  between  them  and  the  waters  rose  over 
it  mountain  high.  As  the  weight  of  the  monster 
pressed  on  the  rocks  they  gave  way  and  thus  the 
horse  shoe  form  that  remains  to  this  day,  was 
fashioned.  But  the  Indians  had  no  more  fever 
in  their  settlement."  1 

Such  was  the  delicate  poetic  fancy  and  genius 
of  the  race  of  Hiawatha. 

No  American  can  visit  Independence  Hall 
in  Philadelphia  without  feelings  of  the  most 
profound  and  tender  interest.  As  you  enter 
that  sacred  room  immortalized  by  the  signing 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  of  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States,  you  see 
looking  down  upon  you  from  the  walls  the 
faces  of  those  who  were  participants  in  these 
memorable  events.  There  is  the  desk  upon 
which  both  of  these  great  documents  were 
signed.  There  is  the  chair  which  Washing- 

1  Erminie  A.  Smith,  Myths  of  the  Iroquois.  2d  Annual 
Report  of  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Ethnology. 


142     AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

ton  occupied  during  the  sessions  of  that  Fed- 
eral Convention,  and  still  dimly  visible  upon 
it  may  be  seen  that  Rising  Sun  which  Benja- 
min Franklin  made  forever  historic.  Here 
assembled  the  members  of  that  convention  in 
the  month  of  May,  1787.  Monday,  May  14, 
1787,  was  the  day  fixed  for  the  meeting  of  the 
Federal  Convention.  Only  a  few  delegates 
were  then  present  and  the  proceedings  actu- 
ally began  on  Friday,  May  25. 
Mr.  Madison  tells  us  that 

"  On  the  arrival  of  the  Virginia  deputies  at 
Philadelphia,  it  occurred  to  them  that,  from  the 
early  and  prominent  part  taken  by  that  State  in 
bringing  about  the  convention,  some  initiative 
step  might  be  expected  from  them.  The  resolu- 
tions introduced  by  Governor  Randolph  were  the 
result  of  a  consultation  on  the  subject,  with  an 
understanding  that  they  left  all  the  deputies  en- 
tirely open  to  the  light  of  discussion,  and  free  to 
concur  in  any  alterations  or  modifications  which 
their  reflections  and  judgments  might  approve. 
These  resolutions,  as  the  Journals  show,  became 
the  basis  on  which  the  proceedings  of  the  conven- 
tion commenced,  and  to  the  developments,  varia- 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    143 

tions  and  modifications  of  which,  the  plan  of  govern- 
ment proposed  by  the  convention  may  be  traced." 

Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  was  a  delegate  to 
that  convention.  At  the  city  of  New  York 
in  December,  1799,  he  delivered  an  oration 
upon  the  death  of  George  Washington.  In 
an  account  of  the  proceedings  preliminary  to 
the  formal  opening  of  the  convention  he  thus 
describes  the  scene :  — 

4 '  It  is  a  question,  previous  to  the  first  meeting, 
what  course  shall  be  pursued.  Men  of  decided 
temper,  who,  devoted  to  the  public,  overlooked 
prudential  considerations,  thought  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment should  be  framed  entirely  new.  But 
cautious  men,  with  whom  popularity  was  an  ob- 
ject, deemed  it  fit  to  consult  and  comply  with  the 
wishes  of  the  people.  Americans !  let  the  opinion 
then  declared  by  the  greatest  and  best  of  men  be 
ever  present  to  your  remembrance.  He  was  col- 
lected within  himself;  his  countenance  had  more 
than  usual  solemnity ;  his  eye  was  fixed,  and 
seemed  to  look  into  futurity.  '  It  is  (said  he)  too 
probable  that  no  plan  we  propose  will  be  adopted. 
Perhaps  another  dreadful  conflict  is  to  be  sus- 
tained. If,  to  please  the  people,  we  offer  what 


144    AMERICA  IN   RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

we  ourselves  disapprove,  how  can  we  afterwards 
defend  our  work?  Let  us  raise  a  standard  to 
which  the  wise  and  the  honest  can  repair.  The 
event  is  in  the  hand  of  God.' " 

These  are  words  which  should  be  handed 
down  to  forever  govern  the  proceedings  of 
all  American  deliberative  bodies,  and  they 
produced  in  the  members  of  the  convention 
that  high  spirit  of  right  and  duty  which  char- 
acterized their  entire  proceedings. 

There  were  fifty-five  delegates  to  the  con- 
vention; all  of  considerable  capacity  and  some 
of  remarkable  talent  and  genius.  Yet  some 
of  the  most  distinguished  names  were  absent 
from  that  roll.  Thomas  Jefferson  was  not 
there;  he  was  representing  us  in  France. 
John  Adams  was  not  there;  he  was  our  am- 
bassador to  England.  Patrick  Henry  was  not 
there;  he  had  been  alienated  by  the  equanim- 
ity with  which  New  England  had  listened  to 
the  proposed  closing  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
was  distrustful  of  the  work  of  the  convention. 
Samuel  Adams  was  not  there;  he  was  never 
considered  a  warm  friend  of  the  Constitution. 
Among  those  present  there  was  Alexander 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    145 

Hamilton,  that  great  constructive  political 
genius.  Tropical  in  his  birth;  with  shrewd- 
ness from  his  Scotch  father  and  passionate 
fervor  from  his  French  Huguenot  mother. 
Dazzlingly  brilliant  in  his  mental  qualities. 
Precocious  in  his  youth.  As  a  boy  of  thir- 
teen he  writes  to  a  friend: 

"  I  contemn  the  grovelling  condition  of  a  clerk, 
or  the  like,  to  which  my  fortune  condemns  me  and 
would  willingly  risk  my  life,  though  not  my  char- 
acter, to  exalt  my  station.  1  am  confident,  Ned, 
that  my  youth  excludes  me  from  any  hope  of  imme- 
diate preferment,  nor  do  I  desire  it ;  but  I  mean  to 
prepare  the  way  for  futurity." 

Rather  stilted,  but  extraordinary  language 
for  a  boy  of  thirteen.  He  developed  his  mind 
by  industrious  reading  and  writing.  A  youth- 
ful production  describing  a  hurricane  he  had 
witnessed  in  the  West  Indies  excited  so  much 
attention  and  interest  that  he  was  sent  to  this 
country  to  pursue  his  studies.  Behold  him  as 
a  youth  of  seventeen,  a  student  in  King's  Col- 
lege, attending  a  meeting  of  patriots  in  those 
fields  of  New  York,  as  they  were  in  that  year 

1774,  but  which  are  now  covered  by  towering 
10 


146    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

buildings.  Impressed  by  the  incompleteness 
of  what  had  been  said,  the  boy  makes  his  way 
unheralded  to  the  platform  and  stands  before 
the  people,  who  view  him  with  amazement. 
Embarrassed  for  a  moment,  he  quickly  re- 
covers himself  and  enters  upon  a  speech  clear, 
convincing,  and  logical.  Grave  and  earnest 
men  recognize  him  at  once  as  an  intellectual 
equal,  if  not  a  master.  In  a  few  months  he 
appears  as  the  author  of  pamphlets  and  news- 
paper articles,  voluminous  in  their  extent, 
filled  with  arguments  on  constitutional  and 
political  questions,  and  showing  rare  ability 
and  grasp  of  mind. 

In  the  Revolution,  a  lieutenant-colonel 
under  Washington  at  twenty,  a  member  of 
Congress  at  twenty-five,  he  quickly  develops 
into  a  statesman  and  master  of  finance.  As 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  and  creator  of  our 
national  monetary  system,  he  gave  vitality  to 
the  public  credit  and  direction  to  the  national 
life.  Joint  author  with  Madison  of  "  The  Fed- 
eralist," his  whole  life  was  a  succession  of 
splendid  intellectual  triumphs  and  patriotic 
accomplishments. 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    147 

Then  there  was  Madison.  Born  in  1751  he 
was  now  thirty-seven  years  of  age.  Not  a  sol- 
dier like  Hamilton,  he  was  by  nature  fitted 
rather  for  council.  When  twenty-three  he  was 
a  member  of  the  committee  of  safety  appointed 
by  his  county  in  1774,  and  in  1776,  as  a  dele- 
gate to  the  Virginia  Convention,  made  his  en- 
trance into  public  life.  For  forty  years  he 
continued  in  the  active  service  of  the  people. 
As  member  of  Congress,  as  Secretary  of  State, 
and  as  President ;  by  his  papers  in  "  The  Fed- 
eralist," his  journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Federal  Convention;  by  his  entire  life  of 
illustrious  services  his  memory  is  fixed  with 
lasting  pre-eminence  in  our  national  history. 
Without  the  personal  magnetism  or  brilliancy 
of  Hamilton,  somewhat  shy  in  his  manner,  and 
with  no  oratorical  display,  he  yet  by  the  keen- 
ness of  his  mind,  the  soundness  of  his  judg- 
ment, by  a  certain  mental  poise,  and  by  the 
perfect  integrity  of  his  character,  had  perhaps 
more  than  any  other  one  mind  a  shaping  in- 
fluence upon  our  Constitution. 

Then  there  was  Franklin,  shrewd  and 
quaint,  venerable  in  age  and  appearance, 


AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

endeared  to  the  people  not  only  by  the 
homely  maxims  of  Poor  Richard,  but  by  the 
distinguished  and  long-continued  services  he 
had  rendered  to  his  country.  What  a  wonder- 
ful versatility  of  genius  he  possessed.  He  was 
a  master  alike  in  Natural  Philosophy,  in  Polit- 
ical Science,  in  Diplomacy,  in  business  sagac- 
ity, and  in  knowledge  of  human  nature.  His 
name  was  a  household  word  in  Europe  as  in 
America.  His  famous  kite  and  his  enticing 
the  lightnings  from  the  clouds  made  him 
forever  one  of  the  famous  figures  in  the 
world's  history.  In  his  mission  to  England 
during  the  times  of  trouble  with  the  colonies 
over  the  stamp  tax  and  other  distasteful  legis- 
lation, his  quick  wit  was  more  than  a  match  for 
the  English  ministers  and  representatives.  As 
minister  to  France  his  duties  were  delicate  and 
performed  with  fidelity.  In  the  peace  negotia- 
tions his  prestige  was  of  importance.  In  short, 
Franklin  was  one  of  the  most  original  and  use- 
ful characters  this  country  has  ever  produced, 
and  was  rightly  beloved  and  venerated  by  the 
people. 

Among  others  of  distinguished  ability  and 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    149 

accomplishment  were  James  Wilson  of  Penn- 
sylvania, Gouverneur  Morris,  Dr.  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman,  Elbridge  Gerry,  Mr.  Patterson 
of  New  Jersey,  and  some  others  of  equal 
prominence. 

Above  all,  and  presiding  as  was  fitting  over 
the  deliberations  of  the  convention,  was  the 
calm,  serene,  and  unapproachable  figure  of 
Washington;  wisest  in  his  judgment,  calmest 
in  moments  of  excitement,  with  an  unparalleled 
influence  over  men. 

The  doors  were  locked  and  it  was  agreed 
that  the  proceedings  should  be  conducted  in 
secrecy  lest  the  news  of  any  difference  or  mis- 
understandings that  might  arise  should  un- 
settle the  minds  of  the  people. 

On  Friday,  May  25,  Washington  was 
elected  President  of  the  Convention.  On 
Tuesday,  May  29,  Randolph  opened  the  main 
business  and  presented  the  fifteen  resolutions 
constituting  what  is  known  as  the  Virginia 
plan  and  which  became  the  basis  for  the  dis- 
cussions of  the  convention.  On  Wednesday, 
May  30,  the  convention  having  resolved  itself 
into  a  committee  of  the  whole,  Mr.  Randolph, 


150    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

on  suggestion  of  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris, 
moved  that  the  first  of  the  proposed  fifteen 
resolutions  should  be  postponed  in  order  to 
take  up  the  three  following  propositions : 

1st.  That  a  union  of  the  States  merely 
federal  will  not  accomplish  the  objects  pro- 
posed by  the  articles  of  confederation,  — 
namely,  common  defence,  security  of  liberty, 
and  general  welfare. 

2d.  That  no  treaty  or  treaties  among  the 
•whole  or  part  of  the  States,  as  individual 
sovereignties,  would  be  sufficient. 

3d.  That  a  national  government  ought  to 
be  established,  consisting  of  a  supreme  legisla- 
tive, executive,  and  judiciary. 

These  resolutions  went  to  the  root  of  the 
whole  matter  and  at  once  brought  up  the 
question  whether  it  was  the  sense  of  the  com- 
mittee that  a  league  of  States  or  a  strong 
national  government  should  be  the  work  of 
the  convention.  There  was  considerable  dis- 
cussion on  these  propositions.  Gen.  Pinckney 
expressed  the  doubt  whether  under  the  act 
of  Congress  recommending  the  Constitution 
any  right  was  given  them  to  consider  the 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    151 

establishing  of  a  form  of  government  differ- 
ing in  its  essence  and  principles  from  the 
Federal  Constitution.  Elbridge  Gerry  also 
doubted  as  to  this.  Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris 
contended  for  one  supreme  power  and  only 
one  as  a  necessity  in  any  community.  He 
showed  the  distinction  between  a  federal  and 
a  national  supreme  government.  In  the  one 
case  a  compact  resting  on  the  good  faith  of  the 
parties,  in  the  other  a  relation  which  was  com- 
plete and  compulsive  in  its  operation.  On  the 
question  as  moved  on  the  third  proposition, 
namely,  That  a  national  government  ought  to 
be  established,  consisting  of  a  supreme  legisla- 
tive, executive,  and  judiciary,  it  was  adopted 
by  a  vote  of  6  to  1. 

The  second  of  Mr.  Randolph's  fifteen  reso- 
lutions was  then  taken  up.  This  involved  the 
vital  question  of  representation;  whether  a 
radical  change  should  be  made  and  a  propor- 
tional representation  be  substituted  for  the 
method  of  the  confederation,  which  gave  an 
equal  vote  to  each  State  irrespective  of  its 
wealth  or  the  number  of  its  inhabitants.  Mr. 
Madison,  Mr.  Hamilton,  and  Mr.  Randolph 


152    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

held  that  an  equitable  ratio  of  representation 
should  be  adopted  in  place  of  the  equality  of 
representation  which  prevailed  under  the  con- 
federation. The  deputies  from  Delaware,  it 
was  declared,  were  by  their  commission  ex- 
pressly forbidden  to  assent  to  any  change  of 
the  rule  of  suffrage,  and  on  motion  of  Mr. 
Reed  of  Delaware  the  question  was  for  the 
time  postponed. 

On  Friday,  June  15,  Mr.  Patterson  pre- 
sented what  is  known  as  the  New  Jersey 
plan.  The  New  Jersey  plan  proposed  simply 
a  modification  of  the  articles  of  confederation. 
It  provided  for  a  single  legislature,  for  magis- 
trates removable  by  Congress  on  application  by 
a  majority  of  the  executives  of  the  several 
States,  for  a  single  national  tribunal,  with  a 
narrow  jurisdiction,  for  equality  of  suffrage 
instead  of  proportional  representation,  and  it 
rested  on  the  State  legislatures  rather  than 
on  the  broad  foundation  of  the  people  at 
large. 

On  June  18,  Mr.  Hamilton  declared  him- 
self unfriendly  to  both  the  plans,  namely 
the  Virginia  plan,  as  embodied  in  the  fifteen 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    153 

resolutions   of   Mr.  Randolph,  and   the   New 
Jersey  plan. 

He  pointed  out  particularly  the  defects  in 
the  New  Jersey  plan  and  offered  himself  a 
sketch  which  he  said  was  intended  to  sug- 
gest the  amendments  he  should  probably  pro- 
pose to  the  plan  of  Mr.  Randolph  at  a  later 
stage  of  the  proceedings.  The  leading  points 
of  Mr.  Hamilton's  sketch  were  that  the  senate 
should  be  elected  to  serve  during  good  be- 
havior, that  the  supreme  executive  should 
serve  during  good  behavior,  and  that  he 
should  have  a  negative  on  all  laws  about  to 
be  passed,  as  well  as  the  sole  appointment  of 
the  heads  of  the  principal  departments;  that 
the  governor  or  president  of  each  State  should 
be  appointed  by  the  general  government,  and 
that  he  should  have  a  negative  upon  all  laws 
about  to  be  passed  by  the  State  of  which  he 
was  governor,  or  president;  and  finally,  that 
no  State  should  have  any  land  or  naval  forces, 
but  that  the  militia  of  the  States  should  be  under 
the  sole  and  exclusive  direction  of  the  United 
States,  and  all  officers  of  such  militia  to  be  ap- 
pointed and  commissioned  by  the  United  States. 


154    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Of  the  three  plans  thus  before  the  conven- 
tion, it  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Hamilton's  plan 
meant  extreme  centralization,  the  president 
being  in  fact  a  king;  that  the  New  Jersey 
plan  was  simply  a  modification  of  the  articles 
of  confederation  and  did  not  create  a  national 
government  acting  directly  upon  individuals, 
and  that  the  Virginia  plan  sought  to  provide 
for  a  strong  national  government  acting  di- 
rectly upon  the  people  as  individuals  and  at 
the  same  time  preserving  the  State  govern- 
ments intact.  It  was  this  latter  plan  which 
became  the  basis  for  the  action  of  the  conven- 
tion and  was,  after  considerable  amendment, 
adopted  in  substance. 

The  chief  difficulty  that  arose  was  over  the 
question  of  representation  in  the  national  Con- 
gress. Under  the  confederation  each  State  had 
its  equal  vote  and  a  two-thirds  majority  was 
necessary  to  pass  a  measure.  Under  the  Vir- 
ginia plan  the  number  of  representatives  from 
each  State  was  to  depend  either  upon  its  wealth 
or  the  number  of  its  inhabitants  and  simply  a 
majority  was  decisive.  This  took  away  much 
of  the  power  of  the  small  States,  and  they  were 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    155 

quick  and  at  times  bitter  in  their  opposition. 
This  question  of  representation  resulted  in 
heated  and  acrimonious  debate  and  threatened 
to  wreck  the  proposed  work  of  the  convention. 
It  was  at  this  point  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
convention  that  Dr.  Franklin,  feeling  that  the 
discussions  were  coming  to  no  practical  result, 
and  were  producing  no  agreement  among  the 
members,  made  his  eloquent  little  speech  sup- 
porting his  motion  that  in  the  future  their 
daily  sessions  should  be  opened  with  prayer. 

"  I  have  lived,  sir,"  said  Dr.  Franklin,  "  a  long 
time,  and  the  longer  I  live,  the  more  convincing 
proof  I  see  of  this  truth  that  God  governs  in  the 
affairs  of  men ;  and  if  a  sparrow  cannot  fall  to  the 
ground  without  his  notice,  is  it  possible  that  an 
empire  can  rise  without  his  aid  ?  We  have  been 
assured,  sir,  in  the  Sacred  Writings  that  '  except 
the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that 
build  it ! '  I  firmly  believe  this ;  and  I  also  believe 
that  without  his  concurring  aid  we  shall  succeed  in 
this  building  no  better  than  the  builders  of  Babel. 
We  shall  be  divided  by  our  little  partial  local 
interests ;  our  projects  will  be  confounded ;  and 
we  ourselves  shall  become  a  reproach  and  by-word 


156    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

down  to  future  ages.  And  what  is  worse,  man- 
kind may  hereafter  from  this  unfortunate  instance 
despair  of  establishing  governments  by  human 
wisdom,  and  leave  it  to  chance,  war,  and  con- 
quest." 

The  next  day,  June  29,  Dr.  Johnson  made 
an  exceedingly  practical  suggestion  in  the  fol- 
lowing words ;  he  said : 

"On  the  whole  he  thought  that  as  in  some 
respects  the  States  are  to  be  considered  in  their 
political  capacity,  and  in  others  as  districts  of 
individual  citizens,  the  two  ideas  embraced  on 
different  sides,  instead  of  being  opposed  to  each 
other  ought  to  be  combined;  that  in  one  branch 
the  people  ought  to  be  represented,  and  in  the 
other  the  States." 

The  debate  over  this  question  of  representa- 
tion continued  to  be  vehement,  and  separate 
confederacies  were  spoken  of.  Mr.  Madison 
finally  declared  that  the  different  interests  of 
the  States  came  not  from  differences  of  size 
but  from  the  effects  of  their  having  or  not 
having  slaves.  "It  did  not  lie,"  he  said, 
"between  the  large  and  small  States.  It  lay 
between  the  Northern  and  Southern." 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    157 

It  was  at  about  this  point  in  the  proceedings 
that  Dr.  Franklin,  with  his  customary  homely 
wit,  said: 

"  The  diversity  of  opinion  turns  on  two  points. 
If  a  proportional  representation  takes  place  the 
small  States  contend  that  their  liberties  will  be 
in  danger.  If  an  equality  of  votes  is  to  be  put 
in  its  place,  the  large  States  say  their  money  will 
be  in  danger.  When  a  broad  table  is  to  be  made 
and  the  edges  of  planks  do  not  fit,  the  artist  takes 
a  little  from  both  and  makes  a  good  joint.  In  like 
manner,  both  sides  must  part  with  some  of  their 
demands,  in  order  that  they  may  join  in  some  ac- 
commodating proposition." 

As,  however,  Mr.  Madison  had  indicated, 
slavery  was  really  the  underlying  difficulty  in 
settling  this  question  of  representation,  and  as 
we  read  the  debates  in  the  convention,  we  can 
almost  think  we  are  reading  the  record  of  anti- 
slavery  times ;  so  pointed  and  bitter  were  the 
discussions.  Finally,  by  a  series  of  compro- 
mises, prohibition  of  slavery  was  waived,  and 
on  the  question  of  representation  it  was  deter- 
mined that  five  slaves  should  count  for  three 
votes. 


158    AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Much  difference  of  opinion  prevailed  as  to 
the  executive  head  of  the  government;  should 
it  be  single  or  consist  of  more  than  one  ?  Some 
feared  tyranny  if  so  much  power  was  delegated 
to  one  individual.  Should  he  be  chosen  by 
the  State  legislatures,  by  the  national  legisla- 
ture, or  by  the  people  ?  What  should  be  his 
term  of  office?  Some  favored  seven  years, 
some  during  good  behavior.  It  was  only 
after  prolonged  and  arduous  debate  that  the 
provisions  of  our  constitution  in  this  regard 
were  finally  framed.  After  four  hot  summer 
months  in  Philadelphia  of  the  most  exacting 
labor,  the  work  was  at  length  completed.  The 
differences  of  opinion  had  been  so  great,  and 
the  discussions  at  times  had  been  so  heated, 
that  the  fate  of  the  convention  had  often 
seemed  doubtful.  Probably  not  one  member 
of  that  convention  was  at  the  close  of  the  pro- 
ceedings entirely  satisfied  with  the  work  that 
had  been  done.  Two  of  the  New  York  dele- 
gates had  withdrawn  early  in  the  sessions; 
three,  Mr.  Randolph  and  Mr.  Mason  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  Mr.  Gerry  of  Massachusetts,  re- 
fused to  sign  the  completed  document.  All 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    159 

the  others,  dismissing  their  individual  ob- 
jections, subscribed  their  names  to  the 
Constitution. 

Mr.  Madison  tells  us  that  as  the  last  mem- 
bers were  signing,  "Dr.  Franklin,  looking 
toward  the  president's  chair  at  the  back  of 
which  a  rising  sun  happened  to  be  painted, 
observed  to  a  few  members  near  him  that 
painters  had  found  it  difficult  in  their  art  to 
distinguish  a  rising  from  a  setting  sun :  '  I 
have,'  said  he,  'often  and  often  in  the  course 
of  the  session  and  the  vicissitudes  of  my  hopes 
and  fears  as  to  its  issue,  looked  at  that  behind 
the  president's  chair  without  being  able  to  tell 
whether  it  was  rising  or  setting ;  but  now,  at 
length,  I  have  the  happiness  to  know  that  it  is 
a  rising  and  not  a  setting  sun. ' ' 

The  Federal  Convention  could  frame  and 
submit  a  proposed  Constitution.  It  remained 
for  the  several  States  to  accept  or  reject  it. 
The  result  seemed  far  from  certain.  The  New 
York  delegates  who  had  withdrawn  from  the 
convention,  Randolph  and  Mason  and  El- 
bridge  Gerry,  who  had  refused  to  sign, 
used  every  effort  to  defeat  the  Constitution. 


160    AMERICA  IN   RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

Patrick  Henry  and  Richard  Henry  Lee  came 
out  in  active  opposition;  Thomas  Jefferson 
was  not  wholly  satisfied  because  a  Bill  of 
Rights  was  not  included,  and  Samuel  Adams 
was  doubtful.  The  Federalist  and  Anti- 
Federalist  parties  were  formed  and  the  proposed 
Constitution  was  attacked  and  defended  with 
much  animation.  That  remarkable  contribu- 
tion to  political  science,  " The  Federalist,"  was 
produced  by  the  papers  of  Hamilton  and  Madi- 
son with  the  slight  co-operation  of  Jay.  Little 
Delaware  was  the  first  to  ratify  the  Constitu- 
tion. Then  came  Pennsylvania  and  New 
Jersey.  Later,  Georgia  arid  Connecticut.  In 
Massachusetts  the  contest  was  hot  and  the  re- 
sult seemed  doubtful.  It  was  proposed  that 
another  Federal  Convention  should  be  called 
to  consider  amendments.  That  memorable 
meeting  of  workingmen  with  Paul  Revere  as 
chairman  was  held  at  the  Green  Dragon  Tav- 
ern in  Boston.  Washington  used  his  influ- 
ence at  the  critical  moment,  and  finally,  on 
February  6,  1788,  Massachusetts  ratifies  abso- 
lutely. The  ten  amendments,  constituting  a 
Bill  of  Rights,  which  she  proposed,  were  subse- 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    161 

quently  adopted  after  the  new  government  was 
under  way. 

Maryland  and  South  Carolina  next  ratified, 
making  eight  States,  and  only  one  more  was 
necessary  to  secure  the  adoption.  Interest 
centred  on  Virginia.  Here  there  was  a 
splendid  struggle.  Patrick  Henry  and  Rich- 
ard Henry  Lee,  Benjamin  Harrison  and  John 
Tyler,  together  with  Mason  and  Randolph, 
who  had  refused  to  sign,  made  a  brilliant 
opposition  to  the  Constitution.  But  young 
Harry  Lee  (Light  Horse  Harry,  as  they  called 
him),  John  Marshall  ("that  tall  and  slim 
young  man  with  the  eye  of  an  eagle,  and 
whose  face  lighted  up  so  brilliantly"),  and 
above  all  Madison,  were  leading  the  forces 
who  were  supporting  the  great  document,  and 
on  June  28  Virginia  ratified  the  Constitution , 
New  Hampshire  having  on  June  25  already 
secured  the  honor  of  being  the  decisive  ninth. 

What  a  day  of  rejoicings  and  of  festivities 
was  that  Fourth  of  July,  1788!  Pageants  and 
processions,  odes,  fire -works,  and  cannons  were 
everywhere.  In  Philadelphia,  the  judges  in 
their  robes,  decorated  floats  with  emblematic 
n 


162    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

devices  and  with  artisans  busy  at  their  crafts, 
ten  vessels  marshalled  in  the  Delaware  to 
typify  the  States  which  had  ratified,  artillery, 
infantry,  and  bodies  of  mounted  troops,  —  the 
scene  was  a  splendid  one,  and  the  joy  of  the 
people  unbounded. 

When  the  procession  reached  its  destination 
James  Wilson  addressed  the  people  from  "  The 
New  Roof,"  that  Federal  edifice  which  had 
been  one  of  the  features  of  the  display;  close 
to  it  was  placed  the  "Good  Ship  Union." 
After  the  dinner  came  an  oration,  and  among 
the  toasts  were  these :  — 

(9)  "May  Reason  and  not  the  sword  here- 
after decide  all  national  disputes." 

(10)  "The  whole  family  of  Mankind." 

A  gentleman  present  at  the  procession  at 
Philadelphia  observes  that  "it  was  very  re- 
markable that  every  countenance  wore  an  air 
of  dignity  as  well  as  of  pleasure.  Every  trades- 
man's boy  in  the  procession  seemed  to  consider 
himself  as  a  principal  part  in  the  business." 

If  the  requisite  number  of  States  had  been 
obtained  New  York  was  still  all-important  on 
account  of  her  commanding  commercial  and 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    163 

military  situation.  She  had  from  the  first 
been  opposed  to  the  Constitution  and  two  of 
her  delegates  had,  as  we  have  seen,  early 
withdrawn  from  the  convention.  Week  after 
week  Hamilton  argued  in  the  State  conven- 
tion at  Poughkeepsie  with  a  brilliancy  and 
matchless  dexterity  which  won  over  opponents 
and  caused  the  result  to  be  justly  regarded  as 
a  magnificent  personal  triumph.  After  the 
ratification,  July  27,  the  scenes  in  Phila- 
delphia of  the  preceding  Fourth  of  July  were 
repeated  in  the  streets  of  New  York;  but 
everywhere  was  Hamilton's  name,  and  every- 
where the  people  rendered  to  him  just  tribute 
and  honor. 

To  the  careful  student  of  the  Federal  Con- 
vention it  must  be  apparent  that  the  sources 
of  our  Constitution  can  be  traced  to  no  partic- 
ular European  nation,  to  no  individual  politi- 
cal thinker  of  ancient  or  modern  times.  The 
debates  in  that  convention  draw  upon  the  ex- 
perience of  our  colonial  and  State  governments 
and  upon  almost  every  form  of  government 
both  ancient  and  modern. 

No  one  who  reads  those  debates  can  detect 


164    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

a  disposition  to  any  servile  following  of  a 
given  model.  While  our  Constitution  em- 
bodied the  best  results  of  political  thought 
and  political  experience  up  to  that  time,  in 
the  broader  and  completer  sense  the  sources  of 
that  constitution  may  be  found  in  the  growth 
of  the  individual  and  the  growth  of  the  State 
which  we  have  been  watching  through  the 
epochs  of  discovery,  settlement,  and  nation- 
ality; they  may  be  found  in  those  initial 
leaves,  Greece  and  Israel,  and  in  the  gradual 
growth  of  that  plant,  watered  by  many  streams, 
made  vigorous  by  the  sun  of  liberty,  until  it 
had  come  to  the  full  proportions  and  symmetry 
of  the  tree. 

As  we  fondly  hope  and  believe,  the  framers 
of  that  Constitution  were  guided  to  a  wisdom 
greater  than  had  been  granted  to  peoples  of 
the  past,  and  were  called  to  the  high  task  of 
completing  a  fabric  of  government  in  which 
men  should  learn  to  see  a  higher  and  fuller 
realization  of  their  own  freedom  than  had  yet 
been  apparent  to  the  dwellers  in  other  lands. 
It  is  this  hope  and  belief  that  gives  us  confi- 
dence in  the  stability  and  perpetuity  of  our 


THE  CONVENTION  AND  CONSTITUTION    165 

government  and  of  our  institutions.  If  here 
the  citizen  shall  see  his  individual  will  and 
freedom  most  perfectly  exercised  and  carried 
out  by  the  State,  his  love  for  our  land,  our 
government  and  our  Constitution  shall  contin- 
ually grow  and  strengthen.  For  a  due  and 
conscious  recognition  cf  this  freedom  which 
he  enjoys  he  has  only  to  study  the  history  of 
the  past  and  the  framing  and  the  nature  of  the 
government  in  whose  liberties  he  is  here  a 
sharer. 


IV 

AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE    FORCE  IN 
HISTORY 


IV 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE  IN 
HISTORY 

WE  have  taken  1492,  1620,  and  1788  as 
vital  dates.  We  have  seen  that  these 
dates  not  only  marked  the  tune  of  discovery, 
the  time  of  settlement,  and  the  time  of  the 
founding  of  a  new  fabric  of  government  for 
America,  but  served  as  central  points  to  mark 
the  great  European  epochs  which  coincided  in 
point  of  time  with  our  great  national  epochs. 
Let  us  take  still  another  date,  namely,  1850, 
which  may  be  said  to  mark  a  fourth  epoch  in 
our  national  history,  as  well  as  a  fourth  great 
epoch  in  the  world's  history.  This  would 
properly  furnish  the  subject  for  a  separate 
chapter,  and  I  think  we  should  find  this  fourth 
epoch,  for  which  I  take  1850  as  a  central  date, 
to  be  as  important  and  as  interesting  as  any  of 
the  previous  epochs  we  have  considered.  As 


170    AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

it  is,  we  will  simply  glance  hastily  at  this  epoch 
of  1850  before  proceeding  to  consider  the  in- 
fluence that  America  has  exerted  upon  the  life 
and  the  history  of  the  world. 

On  the  7th  of  March,  1850,  in  the  United 
States  Senate,  Daniel  Webster  delivered  his 
famous  speech  for  the  Constitution  and  the 
Union.  Twenty  years  before,  on  January  26, 
1830,  Mr.  Webster  had  made  that  still  more 
remarkable  speech  in  reply  to  Hayne. 

The  Nullification  doctrines,  as  expounded  by 
the  keen  and  brilliant  intellect  of  John  C. 
Calhoun,  had  rilled  the  Northern  mind  with 
anxiety  and  apprehension.  The  speech  of 
Hayne  seemed  almost  impregnable  in  its  logic 
and  difficult  to  answer.  You  remember  how 
friends  of  Mr.  Webster  and  of  the  Union,  solic- 
itous and  disturbed  as  to  the  outcome,  called 
upon  Mr.  Webster  the  evening  before  his  reply 
and  found  him  calm,  self-reliant,  and  self- 
poised.  You  remember  how  in  the  famous 
reply  Mr.  Webster's  massive  mind,  his  noble 
rhetoric,  and  his  irresistible  reasoning  ground 
into  powder  the  subtle  and  specious  arguments 
in  favor  of  nullification. 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    171 

He  thus  informed  and  sustained  the  loyal 
mind  of  the  North.  In  this  was  his  greatest 
service  to  the  country  and  the  Constitution  he 
loved  so  well.  His  mind  more  than  any  other, 
in  this  time  of  peril,  grasped  the  great  prin- 
ciples underlying  that  Constitution  and  the 
framing  of  our  fabric  of  government,  while  the 
simplicity  and  grandeur  of  his  oratory  fixed 
these  principles  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 

We  like  to  think  how  when  a  boy  he  bought 
in  a  village  store  that  cotton  pocket-handker- 
chief upon  which  was  printed  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  He  says  concerning  this 
incident:  "I  remember  reading  it  then  and 
I  have  known  something  of  it  ever  since." 

Do  you  remember  that  last  sickness  of 
Daniel  Webster,  —  how  that  little  boat  in 
which  he  used  to  sail  lay  moored  near  by  the 
house  with  an  American  flag  and  a  lantern  at 
the  top  of  one  of  the  masts,  and  how  Mr.  Webster 
asked  that  a  light  be  put  in  that  lantern  that 
as  he  lay  in  his  bed  he  might  see  the  light  shin- 
ing upon  that  flag  he  loved  so  well?  There  it 
remained  until  he  died.  The  light  in  that 
lantern  has  long  gone  out,  but  as  long  as  our 


172    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

nation  shall  last,  so  long  will  the  light  shed  by 
his  great  mind  upon  that  Constitution  shine  on 
undimmed  and  radiant. 

In  1850  the  situation  had  become  alarming, 
and  secession  and  a  separate  confederacy  were 
openly  spoken  of.  Mr.  Calhoun,  in  his  speech 
of  the  4th  of  March,  had  said : 

"If  you,  who  represent  the  stronger  portion, 
cannot  agree  to  settle  them  [the  questions  con- 
cerning slavery  then  at  issue]  on  the  broad  prin- 
ciple of  justice  and  duty,  say  so ;  and  let  the 
States  we  both  represent  agree  to  separate  and 
part  in  peace.  If  you  are  unwilling  we  should 
part  in  peace,  tell  us  so,  and  we  shall  know  what 
to  do,  when  you  reduce  the  question  to  submission 
or  resistance."  l 

Mr.  Webster  felt  that  the  Union  and  the 
Constitution  were  in  great  peril.  It  was  his 
desire  to  treat  the  question  fairly,  and  if  pos- 
sible to  bring  about  some  accommodation  which 
should  preserve  the  nation  intact  and  avert  the 
horrors  of  a  civil  war.  In  the  course  of  his 
7th  of  March  speech  Mr.  Webster  said : 

1  Curtis'  Life  of  Webster,  vol.  ii.,  p.  412. 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    173 

"If  any  gentleman  from  the  South  shall  pro- 
pose a  scheme,  to  be  carried  out  by  this  Govern- 
ment on  a  large  scale,  for  the  transportation  of 
free  colored  people  to  any  colony  or  any  place 
in  the  world,  I  should  be  quite  disposed  to  incur 
almost  any  degree  of  expense  to  accomplish  that 
object.  Nay,  sir,  following  an  example  set  more 
than  twenty  years  ago  by  a  great  man,  then  a 
Senator  from  New  York,  I  would  return  to  Vir- 
ginia, and  through  her  to  the  whole  South,  the 
money  received  from  the  lands  and  territories 
ceded  by  her  to  this  Government,  for  any  such 
purpose  as  to  remove,  in  whole  or  in  part,  or  in 
any  way  to  diminish  or  deal  beneficially  with  the 
free  colored  population  of  the  Southern  States. 
I  have  said  that  I  honor  Virginia  for  her  cession 
of  this  territory.  There  have  been  received  into 
the  treasury  of  the  United  States  eighty  millions 
of  dollars,  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  public 
lands  ceded  by  her.  If  the  residue  should  be  sold 
at  the  same  rate,  the  whole  aggregate  will  exceed 
two  hundred  millions  of  dollars.  If  Virginia  and 
the  South  see  fit  to  adopt  any  proposition  to 
relieve  themselves  from  the  free  people  of  color 
among  them,  or  such  as  may  be  made  free,  they 
have  my  full  consent  that  the  Government  shall 
pay  them  any  sum  of  money  out  of  the  proceeds 


174    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

of  that  cession  which  may  be   adequate  to   the 
purpose."  l 

The  circumstances  surrounding  this  7th  of 
March  speech  are  at  once  dramatic  and  of  vital 
interest.  It  was  almost  the  last  appearance 
of  Mr.  Calhoun  in  the  United  States  Senate. 
The  long  duel  between  these  intellectual  gladi- 
ators here  terminated.  Henry  Clay  is  about 
passing  off  the  stage.  Mr.  Webster  himself 
has  only  two  more  years  to  live.  Soon  new 
actors  are  to  appear  upon  the  scene,  and 
Stephen  A.  Douglass  and  Abraham  Lincoln 
are  to  occupy  the  public  attention.  Some  of 
the  most  thoughtful  and  judicious  men  of  the 
North,  and  among  them  Mark  Hopkins  and 
Benjamin  D.  Silliman,  will  strive  to  bring 
about  a  more  brotherly  feeling  between  the 
sections  of  the  country  and  to  solve  the  diffi- 
culties, as  Mr.  Webster  would  have  been  glad 
to  solve  them,  by  a  compensation  plan  of 
emancipation.  But  it  was  not  to  be,  and  the 
war  of  the  Rebellion  is  soon  at  hand.  Mr. 
Webster's  7th  of  March  speech  is  a  central 

1  Great  Speeches  and  Orations  of  Daniel  Webster,  Boston, 
1882,  p.  623. 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    175 

and  vital  point  in  the  unhappy  differences 
which  terminated  so  tragically.  Let  us  remem- 
ber that  in  this  very  year,  1850,  Victor  Hugo, 
as  President  of  the  Peace  Congress  at  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main,  declared  that  "  A  day  will 
come  when  a  cannon  will  be  exhibited  in 
public  museums,  just  as  an  instrument  of 
torture  is  now,  and  people  will  be  amazed  that 
such  a  thing  could  ever  have  been."  Let  us 
remember  that  the  very  next  year,  on  the 
18th  of  July,  1851,  Carlyle  wrote  to  the  Lon- 
don Peace  Congress :  "  As  men  no  longer 
wear  swords  in  the  streets,  so  neither,  by 
and  by,  will  nations."  Again  were  men  long- 
ing for  peace  while  the  Drawn  Sword  once 
more  seemed  to  be  hovering  threateningly 
above  them  in  the  sky.  Who  shall  dare  to 
blame  Mr.  Webster  for  seeking  to  avert  that 
portent,  for  seeking  to  turn  aside  that  hideous 
blade,  and  to  bring  about  a  settlement  of  exist- 
ing differences  under  due  forms  of  that  Law 
of  which  he  was  a  sworn  minister  and  under 
the  benignant  reign  of  Peace  ? 

1850,  then,  marks    the  period  of   nullifica- 
tion and  of  anti-slavery  discussion  and  of  the 


176     AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

civil  war  that  followed.  In  the  epoch  of  our 
national  history  which  this  year  1850  may  be 
said  to  have  fairly  ushered  in,  we  disposed  for 
all  time  of  that  slavery  question  which  was,  as 
we  have  seen,  such  a  disturbing  factor,  even  in 
the  proceedings  of  the  Federal  Convention ; 
we  endured  the  shock  of  secession  and  brought 
the  country  out  to  a  newer  and  coinpleter 
unity. 

1850  marks  as  well  a  new  epoch  in  European 
history.  It  is  the  epoch  of  the  Political  Recon- 
struction of  Modern  Europe.1  We  have  Cavour 
and  Victor  Emmanuel  and  the  unification  of 
Italy;  Bismarck  and  the  rise  of  Prussia.  In 
France  the  coup  d'etat  —  Louis  Napoleon,  and 
then  the  Republic ;  Russia  is  assuming  new 
importance  and  emancipates  her  serfs.  In 
England  there  was  a  long  and  peaceful  revolu- 
tion marked  by  the  Electoral  Reform  of  1867. 
The  House  of  Commons  from  an  aristocratic 
legislative  body  passed  to  a  truly  representative 
and  elective  body.  There  were  administrative 
reforms ;  poor  laws  were  enacted ;  Boards  of 
Health  were  established.  Education  for  the 

1  See  Appendix,  Note  V. 


AMERICA 'AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    177 

masses  at  length  slowly  made  its  way.  So  late 
as  1836  education  in  England  was  entirely  a 
matter  of  private  enterprise,  and  the  greater 
percentage  of  the  children  attended  no  school. 
Free  Trade  is  established.  At  length  came 
the  genuine  electoral  reform  of  1867  and  we 
have  the  England  of  Gladstone  and  a  substan- 
tially representative  government.  So,  too,  we 
have  English  rule  in  India,  and  with  Livingston 
and  Stanley,  a  new  era  in  Africa. 

Nor  must  we  lose  sight  of  a  most  interest- 
ing development  that  manifested  itself  in  Eng- 
land about  the  year  1850.  Charles  Kingsley 
and  Frederick  Denison  Maurice  were  the 
choice  spirits  about  whom  clustered  this  new 
movement  which  they  called  by  the  name  of 
Christian  Socialism.  Labor  agitations  had  at 
this  time  assumed  formidable  proportions  in 
England.  There  were  terrible  wrongs  that 
needed  righting.  The  condition  of  the  labor- 
ing classes  was  deplorable.  Women  were 
yoked  with  mules  to  work  in  the  mines. 
Little  children  seven  and  eight  years  old 
were  forced  to  work  thirteen  and  fourteen 
hours  a  day,  and  slept  by  the  machines  at 
12 


178    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

which  they  toiled  that  they  might  be  ready 
in  the  morning  for  their  task. 

No  wonder  that  there  were  labor  agitations. 
Kingsley  and  Maurice  felt  the  wrong  and  came 
to  the  rescue  of  the  people.  They  were  proud 
to  be  called  Christian  Socialists,  and  glad  to 
endure  whatever  opprobrium  came  with  the 
name.  By  the  Factory  Act  many  of  these 
wrongs  were  removed  and  a  public  opinion 
was  created  which  did  away  with  the  worst  of 
the  abuses. 

But  not  only  was  this  epoch,  for  which  we 
have  taken  1850  as  our  central  date,  a  great 
national  epoch  for  us,  and  an  epoch  of  politi- 
cal reconstruction  in  Europe;  it  was  as  well 
an  epoch  rich  in  artistic  and  literary  achieve- 
ment. In  1850  a  few  pictures  appeared  in  the 
exhibition  of  the  Royal  Academy  in  London 
bearing  the  initials  P.  R.  B.  Nobody  knew 
what  these  letters  meant,  but  when  they 
learned  that  two  or  three  young  men  of 
hardly  more  than  twenty  years  of  age  had 
assumed  to  originate  a  new  school  and  to  call 
themselves  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood, 
the  criticism  was  quick  and  cruel.  The  daily 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    179 

press  outdid  itself  in  heaping  ridicule  upon 
these  young  men.  But  Ruskin  came  to  their 
rescue  and  took  up  the  cudgels  manfully  in 
their  defence.  With  this  Pre-Raphaelite  move- 
ment we  have  a  protest  against  the  conven- 
tional attitude  and  the  posturings  for  effect, 
a  return  to  sincerity  and  veracity  in  art, 
which  we  now  feel  to  have  been  of  great 
importance  and  to  mark  a  new  era.  Ford 
Maddox  Brown,  Millais,  Dante  Gabriel  Ros- 
setti,  and  Holman  Hunt  brought  to  us  a 
fresher  and  in  many  respects  a  truer  and  a 
better  conception  of  art.  With  all  the  glory 
of  the  Italian  School  of  the  Renaissance, 
that  school  in  which  the  human  eye  first  ap- 
peared on  canvas  as  the  window  of  the  soul, 
yet  we  can  but  feel  that  in  many  of  these  old 
pictures  there  is  a  painful  attitudinizing  — 
figures  consciously  posed  and  with  impossible 
accessories.  The  Pre-Raphaelite  school  sought 
to  present  upon  the  canvas  figures  taken  from 
life  itself,  with  appropriate  local  coloring,  and 
all  the  details  having  the  stamp  of  sincerity 
and  truth. 

In   literature   the   accomplishment   of    this 


180    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

epoch  is  almost  bewildering  in  its  richness. 
We  have  associated  the  nineteenth  century 
so  much  with  material  progress  and  with  great 
inventions  that  we  sometimes  almost  lose 
sight  of  its  record  in  literary  achievement  and 
hardly  realize  that  most  of  the  books  we  know 
best  and  love  best  date  from  this  period. 
Keats,  Shelley,  and  Coleridge,  Wordsworth, 
Tennyson,  and  the  two  Brownings,  Carlyle 
and  Macaulay,  Dickens,  Thackeray,  Scott,  and 
Bulwer,  Kingsley  and  George  Eliot,  Ruskin 
and  Thomas  Moore  —  how  we  know  and  love 
these  names  and  the  books  they  have  given  us ! 

Then  in  our  own  country  there  are  Emerson 
and  Lowell,  Longfellow  and  Whittier,  Bryant 
and  Edgar  Allan  Poe,  Hawthorne  and  Irving, 
Prescott  and  Motley,  Parkman  and  Bancroft 
—  all  pretty  closely  associated  with  1850. 

Indeed  it  requires  but  little  imagination  to 
think  of  this  epoch  as  the  time  of  an  American 
Renaissance.  And  the  parallel  with  its  Italian 
predecessor  is  almost  startling  when  we  come 
to  look  at  it  closely.  The  discovery  of  gold 
in  California  in  1848  caused  multitudes  of 
adventurers  to  flock  in  that  direction,  and 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    181 

again  was  there  an  eager  quest  for  treasures. 
Great  inventions  are  again  springing  up  on 
every  hand:  it  is  the  time  of  the  railroad, 
of  the  steamship,  of  the  telegraph.  It  is, 
too,  a  time  of  scientific  accomplishment : 
Darwin  and  Huxley  and  Tyndall  and  Spencer 
and  Agassiz  are  searching  out  the  laws  of 
nature  and  are  stimulating  and  revolutioniz- 
ing thought.  Brilliant  men  abound  in  all 
departments.  In  the  American  pulpit  of  about 
this  period  are  William  Ellery  C  banning, 
Horace  Bushnell,  and  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
It  is  the  time  of  the  great  American  orators, 
Webster  and  Clay  and  Choate  and  Everett. 
We  have  noted  the  bound  in  art.  We  have 
seen  the  brilliant  accomplishments  in  literature 
in  England  and  in  America. 

It  is  also  the  France  of  Victor  Hugo.  A 
wonderful  France !  Think  of  the  names  that 
cluster  about  this  period:  Madame  de  Stae'l, 
Chateaubriand,  Lamartine,  Sainte-Beuve ; 
Alfred  de  Musset,  Alexandre  Dumas,  Prosper 
Me'rime'e,  The'ophile  Gautier,  and  Honord  de 
Balzac.  And  then  the  remarkable  accom- 
plishments in  history:  the  works  of  Thiers, 


182    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

Mignet,  Coulanges,  Jules  Michelet,  and  Alexis 
de  Tocqueville.  Then  there  were  Quinet, 
Cousin,  Alexandre  Dumas  fils,  and,  especially 
to  be  noted,  Ernest  Renan,  and  also  Hippolyte 
Taine,  whose  brilliant  work  on  the  "  History 
of  English  Literature  "  appeared  in  1864.  It 
is  the  Germany  of  Richard  Wagner.  "  Tann- 
hauser"  was  completed  in  1845,  and  "Lohen- 
grin "  in  1847.  How  interesting  it  is  to  come 
back  to  the  Grail  Legend  with  which  we  started, 
and  see  it  the  leading  motive  in  the  immortal 
work  of  this  great  genius  of  the  nineteenth 
century ! 

It  is  indeed  not  only  the  American  Renais- 
sance, but  a  World  Renaissance,  and  again  does 
mankind  respond  to  vital  impulses  with  a 
splendid  bound  of  progress. 

And  now,  to  come  directly  to  our  immediate 
subject,  what  has  been  the  influence  of  Amer- 
ica, in  these  four  epochs  of  its  history  and  of 
the  world's  history,  upon  the  life  and  thought 
of  the  world  ?  What  has  been  its  moulding  and 
shaping  influence  upon  other  peoples?  How 
far  has  it  been  a  formative  force  in  history? 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    183 

We  gratefully  acknowledge  our  debt  to  the 
nations  of  the  Old  World  and  the  many  streams 
of  influence  that  have  entered  into  our  history 
and  our  life  as  a  people.  To  Italy,  to  Spain, 
and  to  Portugal,  to  Holland  and  to  England, 
to  France  and  to  Germany  —  to  these  and 
other  nations  we  are  indebted  for  much  of  our 
inheritance.  Greece  and  Israel,  those  food- 
leaves  of  history,  Rome,  that  unifying  and 
lawgiving  force,  have  all  sent  down  their  in- 
fluence and  contributed  to  our  being.  Enter- 
ing as  we  have  upon  the  spiritual  possessions 
of  the  race,  our  debt  to  the  past  is  great.  But 
it  is  our  present  thought  to  attempt  to  esti- 
mate the  contribution  which  we  as  a  land  and 
a  people  have  made  to  the  life  of  the  world. 

Taking  up,  then,  the  epochs  which  have 
passed  under  our  view,  let  us  consider  first 
what  formative  or  shaping  force  America  ex- 
ercised in  its  Epoch  of  Discovery. 

The  first  and  most  obvious  influence  exerted 
by  the  discovery  of  America  would  hardly  seem 
a  happy  one.  Excited  by  the  stories  of  treas- 
ures to  be  found  in  the  new  land,  the  Span- 
iards flocked  to  the  caravals  of  Columbus  and 


184    AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

started  upon  independent  voyages  of  their 
own.  It  was  an  eager  quest  for  gold.  They 
shunned  the  cold  and  frozen  North  and  pointed 
the  prows  of  their  vessels  to  the  South,  where 
lay  the  wealth  they  sought.  Picturesque  and 
interesting  as  are  the  adventures  of  the  Span- 
iards in  Mexico  and  Peru,  yet  the  effect  upon 
their  character  was  hardly  elevating.  Indeed 
the  choicer  spirits  in  the  Old  World  were  not 
attracted  by  such  a  quest.  The  wealth  ob- 
tained by  Spain  from  the  mines  of  South 
America  was  of  little  use  to  her.  Much  of 
it  was  expended  in  her  effort  to  crush  out 
liberty  in  Holland,  much  of  it  was  tossed 
back  into  the  Atlantic  in  her  Armada,  which 
went  to  pieces  off  the  shores  of  England. 
Surely  in  this  wealth  which  America  gave 
to  the  Old  World  there  is  nothing  to  re- 
joice at,  and  no  formative  or  shaping  influ- 
ence for  the  betterment  of  mankind. 

And  yet  the  discovery  of  America  played  a 
great  part  in  the  life  and  thought  of  that  era 
and  exercised  a  beneficently  moulding  influ- 
ence upon  its  people. 

We  have  seen  the  individual  in  the  time  of 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE     185 

discovery  awaking  as  from  a  sleep.  Florence 
in  all  its  glories  is  his.  The  great  bound  in 
art  pulses  through  his  being.  The  inventions 
then  springing  up  stimulate  him  and  extend 
his  powers.  But,  after  all,  the  gaze  of  this 
awakening  individual  is  pent  up  and  con- 
tracted in  its  scope.  He  cannot  see  beyond 
the  confines  of  the  Mediterranean.  His  dream 
is  of  a  restoration  of  the  Roman  Empire.  Be- 
yond his  narrow  boundaries  lies  the  dark,  black 
sea.  He  cannot  penetrate  its  distances,  he 
cannot  see  beyond  it.  The  true  artist  is  he 
who  interprets  God  to  man  and  God  in  man  to 
himself.  This  is  the  test  of  the  painting,  the 
statue,  the  poem.  Can  it  enkindle  the  mind, 
uplift  the  spirit,  arouse  the  aspiration,  put  us 
in  touch  with  the  best  in  ourselves  and  lift  us 
to  a  plane  above  the  petty  and  the  common- 
place ?  Then  indeed  is  it  the  hand  of  genius 
that  has  wrought  the  work,  and  the  artist  has 
received  the  divine  commission  to  reveal  God 
to  us.  And  surely  akin  to  the  spirit  that 
wrought  the  marbles  or  painted  the  frescoes 
of  beautiful  Florence  was  that  other  Italian 
spirit  who  saw  beyond  the  waste  of  waters 


186 

and  remained  firm  in  his  faith  and  resist- 
less in  his  purpose  until  his  mission  was 
accomplished. 

To  this  awaking  and  gazing  individual  of 
the  Renaissance  the  piercing  of  the  black 
sea  and  the  finding  of  the  new  lands  beyond 
brought  a  wonderful  widening  of  his  mental 
horizon.  This  was  the  formative  influence  of 
America  in  the  time  of  discovery.  That  dis- 
covery was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  gradual  proc- 
ess, and  as  it  went  on  and  the  new  continent 
took  on  from  time  to  time  more  and  more  a 
coherent  shape,  each  stage  in  that  process  was 
a  new  stimulus  to  the  mind  of  man,  each  step 
was  an  enlargement  of  his  outlook.  The  world 
needed  America.  The  poets  had  long  been 
the  prophets  and  had  sung  of  the  lands  that 
were  to  be.  The  well-known  lines  of  Seneca's 
"  Medea  "  may  be  somewhat  freely  translated 
thus: 

"  The  time  shall  come  in  the  revolving  years 
When  ocean  shall  relax  his  ancient  chains. 
A  mighty  continent  shall  rise;  a  pilot  find  new 

worlds, 
And  ancient   Thule  as  the  earth's  remotest  bounds 

shall  cease  her  claims." 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    187 

And  now  that  the  new  continent  had  been 
found,  the  thought  of  the  world  began  to  turn 
to  it  eagerly  and  expectantly. 

Passing  now  to  the  time  of  settlement,  the 
time  of  the  making  of  homes  in  the  New 
World,  that  second  great  national  and  world- 
epoch  which  we  have  had  before  us,  let  us  try 
to  estimate  the  formative  force  of  America  dur- 
ing this  period. 

It  was,  as  we  have  seen,  a  warring  and  dis- 
cordant world.  We  noted  that  it  was  a  time 
of  great  literary  and  artistic  accomplishment. 
In  England  the  time  of  the  Christian  Renais- 
sance, of  Shakespeare  and  of  Milton;  while  of 
Holland  it  has  been  said  that  "  the  first  smile 
of  the  Dutch  Republic  was  art."  And  yet 
a  Europe  of  tramping  armies  and  devastated 
fields.  Germany  so  laid  waste  that  it  was 
more  than  a  century  before  she  regained  what 
had  been  lost.  Everywhere  religious,  or  rather 
irreligious  conflicts.  The  drawn  sword  hang- 
ing over  all.  The  beneficent  mission  of 
America  during  this  epoch  was  in  furnishing 
a  refuge,  a  haven,  where  men  weary  of  strife 
and  conflict  might  find  a  new  home  remote 


188    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

from  those  Old  World  influences  and  bloody 
deeds,  and  where  men  of  various  nationalities 
and  differing  religions  might  have  time  to 
grow  and  learn  to  know  each  other  better. 

There  was  abundance  of  room  for  all.  If 
all  these  men  of  such  diverse  faiths,  and  in 
such  intolerant  times,  —  if  the  Episcopalian, 
the  Dissenter,  the  Quaker,  the  Catholic,  and 
the  Baptist,  —  had  all  been  shut  up  together 
within  narrow  bounds,  the  probable  results  are 
not  pleasant  to  contemplate.  But  here  were 
vast  stretches  of  country  where  all  could  find 
room  and  a  place.  The  Quaker  goes  to  Penn- 
sylvania, the  Catholic  to  Maryland,  the  Epis- 
copalian to  Virginia,  the  Baptist  to  Rhode 
Island.  They  had  no  need  to  fly  at  each 
other's  throats. 

Then  the  climate  was  propitious.  Had 
these  new-comers  fallen  upon  a  luxurious 
and  tropical  abode,  they  might  have  become 
enervated  and  depressed.  But  here  the  stimu- 
lating breezes  sweeping  across  the  continent 
and  a  soil  demanding  energetic  toil  sharpened 
their  intellects  and  called  forth  their  energies. 
And  what  a  timely  haven  it  was ;  not  only  for 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    189 

those  who  came,  but  in  its  effects  upon  those 
who  remained  to  fight  out  the  battles  in  the 
old  home.  Those  strong  men  struggling  for 
liberty  in  the  England  of  those  days  needed 
the  support  which  such  a  possible  refuge  gave 
to  them.  Cromwell  said  concerning  the  Great 
Remonstrance:  "Had  it  not  passed  I  would 
have  sold  to-morrow  all  I  possess  and  left 
England  forever."  He  is  even  reported  to 
have  engaged  passage  on  one  of  the  ships  sail- 
ing to  these  shores.  Certain  it  is  that  John 
Hampden  bought  a  tract  of  land  on  the  Nar- 
ragansett.  The  strain  was  too  intense.  But 
for  the  hope  that  America  held  out,  the  snap 
would  have  come.  Cromwell  wrote  to  a  friend 
in  Boston  telling  him  how  the  work  of  those 
here  sustained  and  comforted  him  and  those 
who  were  struggling  with  him.  And  so  the 
influence  of  America,  distinctly  moulding  and 
shaping  upon  those  who  came  here,  played  also 
an  important  part  in  sustaining  and  strength- 
ening those  who  fought  out  that  great  battle 
for  the  liberties  of  England.  It  is  useless  to 
speculate  on  what  might  have  happened  had 
the  world  of  the  seventeenth  century  known 


190     AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

no  America.  But  so  far  as  the  human  vision 
can  see  there  could  have  been  no  happy  issue 
out  of  the  conditions  then  existing.  America 
received  these  struggling  sons  of  liberty  and 
gave  them  a  new  field  of  action,  wherein  it 
became  possible  for  them  to  behold  the  realiza- 
tion of  their  own  freedom.  Such  was  the 
Formative  Force  of  America  in  the  time  of 
Settlement. 

Let  us  think  for  the  moment  of  history  as 
a  stately  procession  passing  before  our  view. 
We  have  watched  two  of  the  divisions  of  that 
procession  as  they  have  moved  rapidly  by  us. 
The  first  division  carried  a  banner  on  which 
was  inscribed  "The  Romance  of  the  New 
World "  —  the  time  of  the  discovery  of 
America.  As  the  second  division  passed  us 
we  saw  its  banner  and  could  read  its  motto, 
"  Homes  in  the  New  World "  —  the  time  of 
settlement.  And  now  a  third  division  of  this 
procession  appears  in  view,  and  upon  its 
banner  with  its  thirteen  stars  denoting  the 
time  of  nationality,  the  time  of  the  adoption 
of  our  Federal  Constitution,  appears  the  legend 


AMERICA   AS   A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    191 

"The  New  Roof,"  as  men  then  loved  to  call 
the  Constitution,  which  was  indeed  to  be  a 
shelter  to  them  and  to  their  children  from  so 
many  storms.  And  what  a  wonderful  division 
of  our  procession  is  this  third  one  which  figures 
forth  the  time  of  Revolution,  the  time  of  En- 
lightenment. What  are  those  wild  scenes  of 
tumult  and  bloodshed  ?  It  is  the  French  Revo- 
lution blazing  out  in  our  very  sight.  We  see 
the  majestic  figure  of  Washington  hardly 
seated  in  the  presidential  chair  before  Lafay- 
ette sends  him  the  key  of  the  Bastille.  It  is 
the  time  of  Rousseau  and  of  Immanuel  Kant 
and  of  great  progress  in  political  and  philo- 
sophic thought.  Chatham,  Burke,  and  Pitt 
are  unfolding  the  principles  of  government 
and  bringing  about  a  parliamentary  reform. 
It  is  the  time  of  the  steam  engine,  of  the  spin- 
ning-jenny, of  the  construction  of  a  system  of 
comparative  anatomy  and  a  classification  of  the 
animal  kingdom.  It  is  the  time  of  Goethe  and 
of  Schiller.  The  modern  doctrine  of  Evolu- 
tion is  taking  form  and  establishing  a  new  era 
in  thought.  Sociology  is  taking  its  beginnings 
as  a  distinct  science  or  discipline.  There  in 


192    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

this  third  division  of  our  procession  we  see  the 
foundations  brilliantly  laid  for  the  scientific 
thought  of  this  nineteenth  century  of  ours. 
Now,  what  was  the  formative,  the  shaping  in- 
fluence exerted  by  America  in  this  wonderful 
eighteenth  century,  this  epoch  of  the  founding 
of  our  nationality  ?  Let  us  see.  In  the  last 
chapter  we  noted  the  long  struggle  between 
France  and  England  for  supremacy  on  this 
continent,  and  the  dramatic  scenes  in  1759  on 
the  Heights  of  Abraham  which  marked  the 
close  of  that  struggle.  On  the  25th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1760,  George  II.  died,  and  the  young 
King  George  III.  assumed  the  reins  of  gov- 
ernment in  England.  In  1761,  in  the  old 
Town  House  in  Boston,  James  Otis  makes 
his  historic  argument  against  writs  of  as- 
sistance. A  mural  painting  has  just  been 
placed  in  position  in  the  State  House  at 
Boston  depicting  this  scene.  Lieutenant- 
Governor  Hutchinson,  who  presided  as  Chief 
Justice,  and  the  other  four  judges  associated 
with  him,  appear  in  their  long  wigs  and  their 
robes.  James  Otis  is  delivering  his  argument 
before  them.  The  glow  from  one  of  those  old 


AMERICA   AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    193 

open  fireplaces  suffuses  the  room  and  lights  up 
the  scarlet  robes  of  the  justices,  the  central 
figure  of  Otis,  and  the  countenances  of  those 
who  have  gathered  to  listen  to  his  speech.  I 
think  that  by  looking  at  the  circumstances  at- 
tending this  memorable  scene  we  shall  receive 
some  light  as  to  the  formative  influence  exerted 
by  America  at  this  period.  Now  that  there 
was  no  longer  danger  from  France  on  this  con- 
tinent the  colonists  began  to  feel  more  self- 
reliant  and  less  dependent  upon  Great  Britain. 
On  the  other  hand,  England  was  distrustful  of 
the  colonies,  and  the  young  king,  George  III. 
was  fulfilling  his  mother's  injunction,  "  George, 
be  a  king,"  by  pursuing  an  arbitrary  and  ty- 
rannical policy  not  only  at  home,  but  against 
the  colonies.  Acts  regulating  the  trade  of  the 
colonies  which  had  been  suffered  to  sleep  dur- 
ing the  Seven  Years'  War  were  now  put  into 
operation  and  the  customs  officers  began  to 
enforce  their  demands.  The  colonies  were 
slow  to  comply  and  these  writs  of  assistance 
were  devised  to  help  the  officers  in  collecting 
their  customs.  Otis,  holding  as  he  did  the 
position  of  advocate  general,  was  called  upon 

13 


194    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

for  his  official  assistance.  His  reply  was  a 
prompt  refusal  and  a  resignation  of  his  office. 
Another  having  been  found  to  take  his  place 
and  the  matter  being  pressed,  the  merchants 
of  Salem  and  Boston  came  to  Mr.  Otis  and 
asked  him  to  argue  their  case  against  these 
writs.  Otis  complied  with  their  request  and 
without  compensation.  "In  such  a  cause,"  he 
said,  "I  despise  all  fees." 

In  his  argument  Mr.  Otis  took  the  position 
that  the  warrants  and  writs  in  question  were 
even  illegal  in  England  and  opposed  to  its 
fundamental  laws.  He  said  of  his  case: 
"I  am  determined  to  sacrifice  estate,  ease, 
health,  applause,  and  even  life  itself  to  the 
sacred  calls  of  my  country.  I  argue  it  with 
the  greater  pleasure  because  it  is  in  favor  of 
British  liberty,  and  in  opposition  to  a  kind  of 
power  of  which  the  exercise  cost  one  King 
of  England  his  head  and  another  his  throne. ' ' 
Mr.  Otis  founded  his  argument  not  only  on 
the  fundamental  law  of  England,  but  on  the 
natural  rights  of  man  which  underlay  those 
laws.  He  boldly  proclaimed  that  every  man 
in  a  state  of  nature  had  certain  inalienable 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    195 

rights,  the  gift  of  his  Creator,  and  implanted 
in  his  breast,  and  that  among  these  were  the 
right  to  life,  to  liberty,  to  property ;  that  the 
object  of  government  was  the  mutual  defence 
and  security  of  these  rights;  that  to  suppose 
men  to  have  surrendered  these  rights  other- 
wise than  by  equal  rules  and  general  consent 
was  to  imagine  them  idiots  or  lunatics  whose 
acts  were  not  binding.  "In  short,"  in  the  lan- 
guage of  John  Adams  who  was  present  and 
has  left  us  a  short  synopsis  of  this  speech,  "  he 
asserted  these  rights  to  be  derived  only  from 
nature  and  the  Author  of  nature;  that  they 
were  inherent,  inalienable,  and  indefeasible  by 
any  laws,  pacts,  contracts,  covenants,  or  stipu- 
lations which  men  could  devise.  These  prin- 
ciples and  these  rights  were  wrought  into  the 
English  Constitution  as  fundamental  laws. 
And  under  this  head  he  went  back  to  the  old  . 
Saxon  laws  and  to  Magna  Charta  and  the  fifty 
confirmations  of  it  in  Parliament,  and  the  exe- 
cutions ordained  against  the  violators  of  it, 
and  the  national  vengeance  which  had  been 
taken  on  them  from  time  to  time,  down  to 
the  Jameses  and  Charleses,  and  to  the  peti- 


196    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

tion  of  rights  and  the  Bill  of  Rights,  and  the 
revolution.  He  asserted  that  the  security  of 
these  rights  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  had 
been  the  object  of  all  these  struggles  against 
arbitrary  power,  temporal  and  spiritual,  civil 
and  political,  military  and  ecclesiastical  in  any 
age." 

Mr.  Adams  said  of  this  scene  and  this 
speech,  "Then  and  there  the  child  Inde- 
pendence was  born ; "  and  again  he  writes : 
"I  do  say  in  the  most  solemn  manner  that 
Mr.  Otis'  oration  against  writs  of  assistance 
breathed  into  this  nation  the  breath  of  life. 
.  .  .  Every  man  of  an  immense  crowded  au- 
dience appeared  to  me  to  go  away,  as  I  did, 
ready  to  take  arms  against  writs  of  assistance." 

This  speech  seems  to  me  one  of  the  most  re- 
markable in  all  history.  It  was  not  until  the 
following  year  that  was  published  Rousseau's 
"Contrat  Social,"  which  he  commenced  with 
the  famous  declaration  "Man  is  born  free; 
and  everywhere  he  is  in  chains."  Yet  here 
we  find  James  Otis,  in  1761,  not  only  arguing 
for  the  fundamental  rights  of  English  liberty, 
but  resting  these  rights  upon  the  law  of 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    197 

nature  and  those  inherent  principles  which, 
as  subsequently  clothed  in  the  impassioned 
and  brilliant  style  of  Rousseau,  excited  the 
minds  of  the  French  nation  and  brought  on 
the  Revolution. 

Each  step  that  followed  in  the  resistance  of 
the  colonies  and  the  debates  that  ensued  in  the 
British  Parliament  upon  the  stamp  tax  and 
kindred  legislation  was  an  educational  influ- 
ence not  only  upon  England  but  upon  all 
Europe.  America  was  not  only  working  out 
her  own  liberty  but  was  shaping  and  moulding 
the  thought  of  the  world. 

The  proceedings  of  our  Federal  Convention, 
the  papers  in  "The  Federalist,"  and  the  de- 
bates in  the  State  legislature  concerning  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution  were  eagerly  read 
and  pondered  in  Europe  as  well  as  here,  and 
left  their  impress  upon  her  mind.  The  or- 
ganization of  our  Federal  government  under 
that  Constitution  and  its  orderly  workings  fur- 
nished an  impressive  object  lesson. 

In  the  July  Revolution  in  France  in  1830 
Lafayette  said  to  Louis  Philippe :  "  You  know 
that  I  am  a  republican  and  consider  the  Ameri- 


198    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

can  Constitution  the  most  perfect."  "I  am  of 
the  same  opinion,"  replied  the  Duke;  "no  one 
could  have  been  two  years  in  America  and  not 
share  that  view.  But  do  you  think  that  that 
constitution  could  be  adopted  in  France  in  its 
present  condition  — •  with  the  present  state  of 
popular  opinion?"  "No,"  said  Lafayette; 
"what  France  needs  is  a  popular  monarchy 
surrounded  by  republican,  thoroughly  repub- 
lican institutions."  "There  I  quite  agree 
with  you,"  rejoined  Louis  Philippe.  The 
laboring  classes,  the  young  men  and  the 
students  were  then  talking  of  popular  sov- 
ereignty and  clamoring  for  a  republic.  Had 
the  aged  patriot  Lafayette  spoken  the  word,  a 
republic  it  would  have  been  then  and  there.1 
It  came  later. 

America  exercised,  then,  a  powerful  forma- 
tive force  in  history  in  this  epoch  of  National- 
ity by  asserting  the  inherent  rights  of  man  and 
by  founding  a  fabric  of  government  based  upon 
the  broad  foundation  of  the  people. 

We  have  touched  upon  a  fourth  epoch, 
which  may  be  called  the  epoch  of  Reconstruc- 

1  Miiller,  Political  History  of  Recent  Times,  pp.  108-109. 


;  AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    199 

tion,  and  have  taken  as  our  vital  date  1850. 
This,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  epoch  of  Nulli- 
fication, of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  and  of 
reconstruction  in  this  country,  and  was  also 
marked  by  the  political  reconstruction  of 
Europe.  America's  influence  upon  the  world 
during  this  epoch  is  also  important.  During 
the  trying  times  of  secession  and  civil  war 
our  institutions  stood  on  trial  before  the 
world.  Was  there  an  integrity  and  a  co- 
hesive force  in  our  system  of  government 
sufficient  to  maintain  it  intact  and  to  carry 
us  safely  through  such  a  struggle?  Could  a 
nation  indeed  rest  upon  the  people  as  its 
foundation?  The  republican  form  of  gov- 
ernment was  before  the  judgment  of  the 
world.  The  issue  of  that  conflict  taught  the 
nations  of  the  world  another  great  lesson  in 
representative  government.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  speak  here  of  the  inventive  genius  of 
America  in  the  nineteenth  century,  of  the 
telegraph,  the  telephone,  the  sewing-machine, 
of  those  many  contributions  which  have  aided 
._the  material  life  of  the  world.  That  story  is 
familiar  to  us  all. 


200    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

So,  very  hastily  and  imperfectly,  we  have 
tried  to  indicate  the  formative  force  of  America 
during  the  four  epochs  of  its  history  and  of  the 
history  of  the  modern  world. 

In  the  Epoch  of  Discovery  —  a  widening  of 
the  mental  horizon  of  mankind. 

In  the  Epoch  of  Settlement  —  the  furnish- 
ing of  a  peaceful  home  and  room  for  growth. 

In  the  Epoch  of  Nationality  —  a  practical 
assertion  of  the  inherent  rights  of  mankind 
and  the  establishing  of  a  government  based 
upon  those  rights. 

In  the  Epoch  of  Reconstruction  —  an  object 
lesson  of  the  stability  of  a  republican  form  of 
government. 

It  would  seem  that  America  and  the  world 
have  now  entered  upon  a  new  era  —  a  new 
epoch.  The  epoch  of  Reconstruction  has 
closed  both  for  this  country  and  for  Europe. 
The  new  epoch  bears  signs  of  being  an  epoch 
of  Unification.  Unity  is  to  be  the  keynote  of 
the  twentieth  century.  I  think  we  can  see 
this  tendency  in  many  of  the  departments  of 
thought  and  life.  We  have  it  in  science, 


AMERICA   AS   A   FORMATIVE   FORCE    201 

where,  for  instance,  the  term  "physiological- 
psychology  "  indicates  the  union  that  has 
taken  place  between  what  were  formerly  con- 
sidered distinct  departments  of  knowledge. 

We  see  it  especially  in  Sociology,  —  that 
new  science  based  upon  the  necessity  for  a 
correlation  of  the  results  arrived  at  in  the 
other  departments  of  knowledge. 

In  religion  there  is  a  manifest  tendency  to 
dispense  with  the  old  creeds  which  have  kept 
men  apart,  and  to  unite  on  a  common  platform 
of  the  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Brotherhood 
of  Man. 

In  political  life  the  trend  is  also  in  the  di- 
rection of  unification.  The  world  is  fast  grow- 
ing into  a  certain  unity.  China  must  soon 
outgrow  her  childhood  or  be  broken  into 
pieces.  The  forces  of  modern  life  are  press- 
ing hard  upon  her.  India,  under  the  influ- 
ences at  work,  is  no  longer  to  be  entirely 
abandoned  to  her  dream  of  blissful  uncon- 
sciousness; Africa  is  coming  under  the  do- 
main of  civilization;  even  now  the  American 
flag  and  the  American  Constitution  have  found 
their  way  to  the  distant  isles  of  the  sea.  The 


202    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

civilized  nations  are  themselves  growing  into 
a  certain  relationship  that  must  presently  find 
some  international  embodiment. 

Adapting  the  terms  of  Evolution  to  political 
life,  we  may  call  this  process  a  process  of  in- 
tegration. Integration,  that  primary,  that 
fundamental  principle  in  all  evolutionary  phi- 
losophy, is  surely,  and  it  would  seem  somewhat 
swiftly,  doing  its  work.  We  saw  how  Goethe 
in  his  garden  walks  discovered  that  the  leaf 
is  ever  modifying  or  varying  its  shape,  its 
color,  and  its  texture,  and  that  all  parts  of  the 
flower  are  but  modifications  or  variations  of 
the  leaf.  Now  this  principle  of  variation,  of 
differentiation,  is  so  universal,  so  far-reaching 
in  its  effects,  that  we  lose  sight  of  the  fact 
that  after  all  the  underlying  and  basic  prin- 
ciple of  evolution  is  integration.  If  the  leaves 
are  ever  varying  and  taking  on  new  shapes  and 
colors  it  is  only  that  they  may  be  reunited  into 
the  greater,  the  completer  whole,  and  thus 
reveal  the  beauty  of  the  perfect  flower.  So 
it  is  in  political  life;  there  is  a  constant 
variation,  a  differentiation  going  on,  but  only 
that  these  seemingly  heterogeneous  parts  may 


AMERICA  AS   A   FORMATIVE  FORCE    203 

be    reunited  into  a   larger  and  more  perfect 
whole. 

For  an  illustration,  recall  the  story  of  our 
colonies.  Massachusetts  did  not  understand 
Roger  Williams,  but  the  island  gift  of  Mian- 
tonomah  is  at  his  hand,  and  we  see  a  variation, 
a  differentiation  of  the  leaf  taking  place,  and 
the  new  colony  of  Rhode  Island  assuming  its 
definite  form  and  shape.  The  Quakers  were 
unpopular  in  New  England,  and  Pennsylvania 
takes  on  a  new  and  varying  form  of  the  leaf. 
Catholic  Maryland,  under  the  mild  and  benefi- 
cent policy  of  toleration  pursued  by  her,  ex- 
hibits another  modification  of  the  leaf.  So  it 
was  with  the  other  colonies.  Each  one  of 
these  original  thirteen  colonies  represents  a 
special  variation  or  modification  of  the  shape, 
the  color,  and  the  texture  of  the  leaf.  Then 
came  the  Federal  Convention,  and  we  see  how 
these  varied,  these  differentiated  colonies,  or 
States,  or  leaves,  re-united  in  that  completer 
whole ;  how  by  the  adoption  of  the  Constitu- 
tion those  varied,  those  differing  leaves  be- 
came that  flower  of  consummate  political 
beauty  —  these  United  States  of  America. 


204    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

That  principle  of  integration  did  not  stop 
with  the  framing  of  our  Constitution.  It  is, 
as  we  have  said,  a  fundamental  principle.  As 
the  original  thirteen  States  were  shaped  into 
certain  lines  of  proportion  and  harmony  and 
fitted  to  take  their  parts  in  a  symmetrical 
whole,  so  are  the  nations  of  the  earth  being  so 
moulded  and  fashioned  that  in  like  manner 
they  may  become  the  pistil,  the  stamen,  the 
corolla  of  that  most  wonderful  flower,  that 
flower  most  perfect  in  shape,  most  satisfying 
in  its  color,  most  exquisite  and  life-giving  in 
its  fragrance;  that  flower  of  an  international 
State,  in  which'  the  whole  work  of  the  varia- 
tion of  the  leaves  shall  be  revealed  as  a  work 
of  the  highest  art,  and  in  whose  unapproach- 
able beauty  the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  learn 
to  see  their  true  aim  and  destiny.  This  prin- 
ciple of  integration  is  so  basic,  so  fundamen- 
tal, so  all -pervading,  that  we  must  reckon 
with  it  whether  we  will  or  no.  We  may  wish 
that  it  had  been  given  to  us  to  remain  sepa- 
rated and  apart  from  the  difficulties  and  prob- 
lems of  the  Old  World.  We  may  think  of  the 
security  we  have  enjoyed  in  the  past,  and 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    205 

tremble  as  to  the  future.  But  the  truth 
remains.  The  nations  of  the  earth  have  been 
drawing  closer  together  and  coming  into  a 
certain  relationship.  We,  together  with  the 
other  nations,  have  been  taking  on  certain 
varieties  of  color,  form,  and  texture  only  that 
we  may  be  united  into  that  fuller,  that  com- 
pleter  expression  of  international  political 
beauty  which  shall  serve  to  interpret  to  men 
their  destiny  in  a  common  brotherhood. 

As  a  nation  we  may,  through  our  form  of 
government  and  the  structure  of  our  constitu- 
tion, hope  to  have  a  most  helpful  formative  and 
shaping  influence  in  this  great  work  of  integra- 
tion which  is  in  progress.  Our  constitution 
embodied  a  novel  principle  theretofore  un- 
known to  men,  —  namely,  the  harmonious  ad- 
justment between  the  State  and  Federal 
governments,  each  supreme  in  its  sphere,  and 
every  citizen  brought  into  direct  relations  not 
only  with  the  State  but  with  the  Federal  gov- 
ernment. Did  our  States  lose  anything  of 
their  dignity  or  authority  by  establishing  a 
national  tribunal  —  a  national  Supreme  Court 


206    AMERICA  IN   RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

which  should  have  jurisdiction  over  the  indi- 
viduals of  the  separate  States  and  over  the 
States  themselves  in  their  national  relations? 
Did  the  individual  citizen  become  less  loyal 
or  valuable  to  his  State  because  brought  into 
direct  political  relations  with  another  supreme 
power?  May  it  not  well  be  that  this  same 
principle  first  set  forth  in  our  national  Consti- 
tution may  be  applied  to  the  consideration  of 
international  politics  and  furnish  the  basis  for 
some  international  bond  of  union  that  shall 
still  the  war  cries  of  the  nations  and  render 
possible  the  peaceful  solution  of  the  great 
world-problems  which  are  in  the  near  future  ? 
May  not  this  Constitution  of  ours  be  indeed 
the  bud  which  is  to  later  blossom  out  into  that 
completer,  that  matchless  political  flower  ? 

But  are  the  terms  of  evolution  all?  Does 
the  principle  they  express  explain  all  —  ac- 
count for  all?  The  evolutionary  ideas  have 
exerted  a  tremendous  influence  upon  the 
thought  of  the  past  fifty  years.  They  are 
the  ideas  that  dominate  the  thought  of  to- 
day. But  they  did  not  dominate  the  thought 
of  the  eighteenth  century.  The  growth  of 


AMERICA   AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    207 

human  conceptions  then  in  the  ascendency 
centred  about  a  different  pivot.  The  phil- 
osophic thought  of  one  century  becomes  dy- 
namic in  the  next  century.  Ideas  germinate 
and  bring  forth  their  fruit  slowly.  Evolution 
was  born  for  the  purposes  of  the  modern  world 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  Its  influence  upon 
the  minds  of  men  was  exerted  in  the  nineteenth 
century  and  seems  likely  to  reach  well  into  the 
twentieth.  The  ideas  that  shaped  the  con- 
duct of  men  in  the  eighteenth  century  were  the 
ideas  that  found  their  modern  philosophic  con- 
ception and  statement  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury. These  ideas,  stated  in  the  briefest 
possible  form,  are  the  inductive  or  experi- 
mental method  in  approaching  nature  ushered 
in  by  Newton  and  Bacon,  and  the  views  of  the 
natural  rights  of  man  and  of  the  basis  of  sov- 
ereignty expounded  by  Locke  and  Milton.1 

The  next  year  after  the  famous  argument  of 
James  Otis  against  writs  of  assistance,  appeared 
the  still  more  famous  "  Contrat  Social "  of  Jean 
Jacques  Rousseau.  Rousseau  did  not  origi- 
nate any  political  ideas;  nor  did  the  other 
1  See  Appendix,  Note  VI. 


208    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

French  Encyclopedists.  They  took  their 
ideas  largely  from  the  seventeenth-century 
thinkers.  The  extraordinary  influence  of 
Rousseau's  book  was  the  effect  of  an  emo- 
tional man  with  a  brilliant  passionateness  of 
expression  acting  upon  an  emotional  people 
in  an  emotional  age.  It  was  more  than  this ; 
it  was  the  effect  of  the  presentation  of  one  of 
the  great  root  ideas  that  have  moulded  human 
thought  and  led  on  human  progress,  in  an  age 
and  especially  in  a  country  that  had  forgotten 
or  turned  aside  from  that  idea.  What  place 
did  the  law  of  nature  or  the  inherent  rights  of 
man  find  in  the  ancien  regime  ?  France  was  a 
land  of  privileged  classes,  of  despotic  govern- 
ment, of  the  grinding  of  the  face  of  the  average 
man  under  the  heel  of  the  unscrupulous  and 
powerful  few.  Rousseau's  cry  that  "Man  is 
born  free  and  everywhere  he  is  in  chains  "  fell 
upon  the  ears  of  men  whose  flesh  was  hot  and 
blistered  and  torn  under  the  pressure  of  the 
fetters  that  were  upon  them.  No  wonder  they 
responded  fiercely  and  eagerly  to  the  cry ! 

There  is  no  more  fascinating  chapter  in  the 
history  of  human  ideas  than  the  story  of  the 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    209 

origin  and  development  of  this  idea  of  the  law 
of  nature  and  of  the  natural  rights  of  man. 
Aristotle  taught  that  from  the  development  of 
man  the  State  is  evolved;  that  he  is  a  politi- 
cal animal  meant  to  be  self-sufficing;  that  by 
the  law  of  nature  implanted  within  him  he 
must  organize  the  State  in  order  to  arrive  at 
his  normal  growth,  in  order  to  attain  his  end 
and  aim.  Socrates  and  the  Stoics,  as  well  as 
Aristotle,  often  refer  to  a  law  of  nature  which 
is  a  part  of  the  very  constitution  of  man  him- 
self and  is  a  moral  law  revealed  by  the  con- 
science to  men  everywhere.  It  was  a  familiar 
idea  with  the  Roman  jurists.  According  to 
Mr.  Bryce,  "The  idea  of  the  Law  of  Nature 
as  the  source  of  morality  and  the  true  founda- 
tion of  all  civil  laws,  the  idea  of  all  mankind 
as  forming  one  community,  of  which  all  are 
citizens,  and  in  which  all  are  equal  in  the  eyes 
of  nature  —  this  idea  had  come  to  pervade  the 
minds  of  thinking  men,  whether  or  no  they 
were  professed  adherents  of  any  school  of 
philosophy."1  This  idea  was  put  to  a  very 
practical  use  by  these  Roman  lawyers.  The 

1  Bryce,  Studies  in  History  and  Jurisprudence,  p.  578. 
14 


210    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

Roman  law  was  held  to  apply  only  to  the 
Roman  citizen,  and  yet  there  was  a  great 
body  of  people  subject  to  the  Roman  Empire 
although  not  Roman  citizens.  What  law  shall 
be  held  to  apply  to  these  people  ?  The  Roman 
lawyers,  following  out  the  idea  of  a  law  of 
nature,  universal  to  all  men  and  founded  on 
principles  of  reason  and  justice  recognized  by 
all  men,  conceived  the  plan  of  grouping  to- 
gether such  laws  as  were  found  to  be  common 
to  the  systems  of  all  these  alien  peoples.  They 
believed  that  such  a  recognition  was  a  sign  that 
such  laws  did  indeed  spring  from,  were  a  part 
of,  the  law  of  nature.  And  so  they  formu- 
lated what  they  called  the  Law  of  Nations; 
not  a  law  for  nations.  International  law  de- 
veloped later,  though  founded  on  the  same 
basis  —  the  law  of  nature.  So,  too,  equity 
sprang  up,  founded  on  the  same  idea  and  in- 
tended to  supplement  the  inadequacy  of  posi- 
tive legal  rules  or  codifications  by  those 
fundamental  principles  of  right  and  justice 
recognized  by  all  men.  It  was  an  appeal  to 
conscience,  and  courts  of  equity  came  to  be 
called  courts  of  conscience. 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    211 

But  not  only  was  this  idea  of  the  law  of 
nature  the  basis  of  the  development  of  juris- 
prudence ;  it  also  furnished  a  basis  for  human 
conceptions  of  liberty  and  sovereignty.  If  man 
is  what  Aristotle  declared  him  to  be,  —  a  politi- 
cal being  whose  true  end  is  to  be  self-sufficing 
and  the  organizer  of  a  State,  —  then  he  is 
more  than  a  mere  creature,  he  partakes  of  the 
nature  of  the  creator  —  he  is  a  co-creator. 
This  is  the  logic  of  it  and  Christianity  clinched 
the  argument.  The  appeal  to  this  logic  has 
been  frequent.  Mr.  Bryce  cites  Philip  the 
Fair  of  France,  who  made  this  appeal  when, 
proposing  to  liberate  the  serfs  in  A.  D.  1311, 
he  says:  "Every  human  creature  formed  in 
the  image  of  Our  Lord  ought  by  natural  law 
to  be  free."  Milton  made  this  appeal  when 
he  wrote :  "  No  man  who  knows  aught  can  be 
so  stupid  as  to  deny  that  all  men  naturally 
were  born  free,  being  the  image  and  resem- 
blance of  God  himself,  and  were  by  privilege 
above  all  creatures,  born  to  command  and  not 
to  obey."1 

Here,  then,  was  no  new  and  strange  doc- 

1  The  Tenure  of  Kings  and  Magistrates,  1649,  1st  ed.,  p.  8. 


212    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

trine  promulgated  by  Rousseau  in  1762,  — 
this  doctrine  of  the  sovereignty  of  man,  of  his 
inalienable  right  to  life,  liberty,  and  property, 
set  forth  by  James  Otis  in  1761  with  such 
fervid  reiteration  that,  as  Tudor  says  in  his 
"Life  of  Otis,"  "He  sported  upon  this  sub- 
ject." Wolf,  that  German  thinker  and  pro- 
fessor of  philosophy,  expounded  the  principles 
of  the  law  of  nature  in  a  series  of  treatises  ex- 
tending from  1740  to  1750.  Vattel  applied 
them  to  international  law  and  international 
politics  in  1758. 

No,  it  was  not  because  Rousseau  said  any- 
thing startlingly  new ;  it  was  because  he  said 
old  things  in  such  a  startling  way  and  at  such 
a  startling  time.1 

And  so  this  appeal  to  the  law  of  nature  and 
to  the  inherent  rights  of  man  was  made  in 
America  and  in  France.  In  America  it  re- 
sulted in  the  Revolution,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence,  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  In  France  it  resulted,  in  the 
first  seeming,  in  the  storming  of  the  Bastille, 
in  the  Reign  of  Terror,  and  in  — Napoleon. 
1  See  Appendix,  Note  VII. 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    213 

But  only  in  the  first  seeming.  The  condi- 
tions were  so  different.  In  America  all  things 
ready  and  propitious  for  erecting  the  stately 
edifice  of  Liberty ;  in  France  a  huge  structure 
of  the  wrongs  of  centuries,  a  structure  that 
seemed  irremovable  and  yet  that  must  be  torn 
down  in  agony  and  tears  and  blood  before 
the  ground  should  be  cleared  for  that  fairer 
temple  of  human  freedom  founded  upon  the 
Rights  of  Man  and  the  Law  of  Nature. 

No,  the  terms  of  Evolution  are  not  all. 
Evolution  has  come  to  stay  in  that  it  denotes 
the  orderly  unfolding  of  the  processes  of  nature. 
It  has  nothing  to  do  with  origins ;  it  cannot 
explain  origins.  Its  terms  will  not  alone  suf- 
fice in  a  study  of  the  social  and  political  life 
of  man.  It  is  helpful,  but  it  is  not  all.  Indeed 
there  are  those  who  are  beginning  to  feel  that 
the  next  word  will  be  devolution.  We  see  such 
a  process  at  work  in  individual  life,  in  social 
life,  in  the  history  of  nations.  As  "  the  philoso- 
pher "  says : 1  "  For  what  each  thing  is  when 
fully  developed  we  call  its  nature."  We  meas- 

1  Dante  always  referred  to  Aristotle  as  "  the  philoso- 
pher." 


214    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

ure  our  heredity  by  our  potencies,  our  capaci- 
ties, our  aspirations.  We  will  not  have  the 
amoeba  for  our  parent.  We  do  not  look  to  the 
embryonic  germ  as  our  sire.  We  listen  to 
Wordsworth  when  he  sings : 

"  Our  birth  is  but  a  sleep  and  a  forgetting ; 
The  soul  that  rises  with  us,  our  life's  star, 
Hath  had  elsewhere  its  setting  and  cometh  from  afar. 
Not  in  entire  forgetfulness  and  not  in  utter  naked- 
ness, 

But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 
From  God  who  is  our  home." 

At  moments  we  are  able  to  still  catch  some- 
thing of  the  radiance  of  those  glorious  clouds. 
We  are  not  afraid  to  admit  that  the  poet  is 
often  the  best  scientist.  As  one  of  the  greatest 
of  modern  poets  phrases  it : 

"  "We  turn  with  stronger  needs  to  the  genius  of 
an  opposite  tendency  —  the  subjective  poet  of 
modern  classification.  He,  gifted  like  the  objec- 
tive poet  with  the  fuller  perception  of  nature  and 
man,  is  impelled  to  embody  the  thing  he  perceives 
not  so  much  with  reference  to  the  many  below,  as 
to  the  One  above  him,  the  supreme  Intelligence 
which  apprehends  all  things  in  their  absolute  truth, 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE   FORCE    215 

—  an  ultimate  view,  ever  aspired  to,  if  but  partially 
attained,  by  the  poet's  own  soul.  Not  what  man 
sees,  but  what  God  sees  —  the  Ideas  of  Plato, 
seeds  of  creation  lying  burningly  on  the  Divine 
Hand  —  it  is  toward  these  that  he  struggles.  Not 
with  the  combination  of  humanity  in  action,  but 
with  the  primal  elements  of  humanity  he  has  to  do, 
and  he  digs  where  he  stands,  preferring  to  seek 
them  in  his  own  soul  as  the  nearest  reflex  of  the 
absolute  Mind,  according  to  the  intuitions  of  which 
he  desires  to  perceive  and  speak." 1 

"  All  successful  inquiry,"  says  Professor 
Shaler,  "shows  us  that  the  only  way  to 
interrogate  the  deeps  is  by  sending  into  them 
well-framed  conjectures,  hypotheses,  which 
state  what  the  order  of  events  should  be  in 
order  to  satisfy  our  minds."2  If  all  life  is  an 
adaption  to  environment  we  want  to  know 
what  our  real  environment  is.  We  wish  to 
attain  the  ultimate  view.  We  send  out  our 
conjectures  into  the  deeps  and  again  we  hear 
the  voice  of  the  singer: 

1  Robert  Browning  in  Essay  on  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley. 
See  Appendix,  Note  VIII. 

2  Shaler,  The  Individual,  p.  307. 


216    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

"  Thus  is  a  season  of  fair  weather,  though  inland  far 

we  be, 

Our  souls  have  sight  of  that  immortal  sea 
That  brought  us  hither ;   can  in   a  moment  travel 

thither, 

And  see  the  children  sport  upon  the  shore 
And  hear  the  mighty  waters  rolling  evermore." 

We  claim  kinship  with  those  children.  There 
is  that  in  the  sound  of  those  mighty  rolling 
waters  that  makes  us  conscious  of  an  environ- 
ment to  which  we  know  the  laws  of  our  being 
intend  we  should  be  adapted. 

There  is  something  almost  sad  in  the  terms 
of  Evolution.  Magnificent  as  they  may  seem 
when  applied  to  the  flower  of  a  cosmopolitical 
State,  yet  we  remember  that  the  flower  fades 
and  the  leaves  fall.  That  after  the  flower, 
comes  the  fruit,  and  then  the  seed  again.  We 
know  not  how  many  flowers  there  may  be  in 
the  garden  of  the  Lord,  but  as  we  watch  the 
transitoriness  of  governments,  of  visible  States, 
we  feel  their  mortality.  The  visible  State  or 
nation  is  but  the  creature  of  man ;  he  is  its 
creator ;  it  is  but  an  incident,  a  help  to  his 
progress.  Having  fulfilled  its  purpose  it  passes 
away.  It  is  only  the  invisible  State  that  en- 


AMERICA  AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    217 

dures,  — the  spiritual  State,  that  Universal  State 
which  Hegel  declares  to  be  none  other  than  the 
realization  by  man  of  his  own  freedom.  This 
invisible  State  is  none  the  less  real  because 
invisible.  You  may  establish  the  most  elab- 
orate system  of  government,  your  political 
adjustments  may  be  arranged  to  a  nicety,  but 
unless  your  fabric  contains  within  it  the  living 
spirit  of  that  invisible,  that  Universal  State  you 
have  been  building  a  house  of  cards.  Each 
nation  is  but  an  embodiment,  an  expres- 
sion, of  the  growth  to  which  that  Universal 
State  has  then  attained.  The  nation  passes 
away,  the  Universal  State  endures. 

It  is  not  enough  that  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  is  well  adapted  to  serve  as  a 
model  for  the  federation  of  the  world.  It  is 
not  enough  that  we  as  a  nation  are  so  placed 
as  to  exercise  a  powerful  influence  in  a  great 
work  of  political  integration.  The  only  saving 
unity  is  a  spiritual  unity.  It  is  only  by  an 
apprehension  of  the  nature  of  man,  of  his  heri- 
tage, of  his  inherent  tendencies  and  potencies, 
of  his  complete  environment,  of  the  stimuli 
to  which  he  is  adapted  to  react  —  in  other 


218     AMERICA   IN    RELATION   TO   HISTORY 

words  it  is  only  by  a  study  of  the  Law  of  Nature 
in  all  its  full  and  complete  meaning  and  im- 
plications, that  we  shall  find  the  true  basis  for 
political  liberty  and  for  the  higher  unity.  Men 
will  either  drag  their  gods  down  to  the  human, 
as  did  Greece  and  Rome,  or  humanity  must 
assert  its  true  place  as  being  God-like.  There 
is  an  irresistible  craving  for  unity.  It  will 
be  either  a  destructive  or  a  saving  unity. 

During  the  proceedings  of  the  Federal  Con- 
vention Mr.  James  Wilson  of  Pennsylvania 
said: 

"  When  he  considered  the  amazing  extent  of 
country  —  the  immense  population  which  is  to  fill 
it  —  the  influence  the  government  we  are  to  form 
will  have,  not  only  on  the  present  generation  of 
our  people  and  their  multiplied  posterity,  but  on 
the  whole  globe, — he  was  lost  in  the  magnitude 
of  the  object.  The  project  of  Henry  IV.  and  his 
statesmen,  was  but  the  picture  in  miniature  of  the 
great  portrait  to  be  exhibited."1 

These  men  of  the  Constitution  had  the  vision 
of  the  cosmopolitical  nature  of  the  work  they 

1  M.  P.  vol.  ii.,  p.  726. 


AMERICA   AS  A  FORMATIVE  FORCE    219 

were  doing.  But  simply  viewed  as  a  political 
structure  it  was  a  vision  of  the  corporeal.  It 
is  because  of  the  inner  life  infusing  and  inform- 
ing that  great  political  structure  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  —  that  life  pulsing  with  the 
conception  of  the  sanctity  and  worth  of  the  in- 
dividual, of  his  inherent  sovereignty,  of  the 
moral  responsibility  of  nations  and  rulers  —  it 
is  this  inner  life  within  our  fabric  of  govern- 
ment that  is  vital,  that  is  dynamic,  that  will 
endure.  It  is  because  of  this  inner  life  of  the 
State,  a  life  in  which  we  participate  and  of 
which  we  are  a  part,  that  we  look  to  see  our 
national  policies  founded  on 

"...  right,  truth  on  the  absolute  scale  of  God, 
No  pettiness  of  man's  admeasurement." 

It  is  because  of  this  that  we  demand  the  recog- 
nition of  the  same  sanctity  of  the  individual 
everywhere,  of  his  right  to  life,  liberty,  and 
property,  of  his  right  to  sovereignty,  that  we 
have  claimed  for  ourselves.  It  is  because  of 
this  inner  life  that  we  expect  to  see  the  forma- 
tive influence  of  the  American  idea,  the 
universal  idea,  extended  until  under  some 


220    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

federative  bond  a  reign  of  law  shall  enduringly 
prevail,  and  men  learn  indeed  to  be  self-suffic- 
ing. 

"  Till  nations  shall  unconsciously  aspire 
By  looking  up  to  thee,  and  learn  that  good 
And  glory  are  not  different.     Announce  law 
By  freedom  ;  exalt  chivalry  by  peace ; 
Instruct  how  clear,  calm  eyes  can  over-awe, 
And  how  pure  hands  stretched  simply  to  release 
A  bond-slave  will  not  need  a  sword  to  draw 
To  be  held  dreadful.  ..." 

"  Drums  and  battle-cries 
Go  out  in  music  of  the  morning-star  — 
And  soon  we  shall  have  thinkers  in  the  place 
Of  fighters.     Each  found  able  as  a  man 
To  strike  electric  influence  through  a  race 
Unstayed  by  city-wall  and  barbican." 


V 

COBEELATIONS 


V 

CORRELATIONS 

WE  have  gone  over  a  large  field  and  have 
compressed  into  small  compass  what 
would  require  volumes  to  properly  amplify. 
And  so  it  is  important  that  we  should  see 
clearly  the  unity  and  the  correlation  of  it 
all.  It  is  one  story.  It  is  the  story  of  the 
new  birth  of  the  human  spirit.  It  is  the  story 
and  the  record  of  accomplishments  springing 
from  the  revitalization  of  humanity. 

Now  I  should  be  sorry  if  any  reader  who 
has  followed  me  so  far  was  not  impressed 
with  the  thought  that  the  grouping  of  events 
which  we  have  been  considering  reveals  some- 
thing more  than  a  mere  series  of  coincidences. 
It  did  not  just  happen  that  the  epochs  of  our 
national  history  tally  almost  exactly  in  point 
of  time  with  the  epochs  of  modern  history. 


224    AMERICA  IN   RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

The  relation  between  the  two  is  vital.  The 
events  are  interdependent.  The  story  of 
America  and  the  story  of  modern  history  are 
one  story.  This  could  not  be  said  in  the  same 
sense  of  any  other  country;  not  of  Italy  or 
Spain,  of  Holland  or  France,  of  Germany  or 
England.  And  why?  Because  America  was 
the  first  born  of  the  modern  world  and  entered 
into  its  inheritance.  Ah,  but  you  say,  the 
modern  nations  had  their  rise  before  America 
was  even  discovered;  by  the  end  of  the  fif- 
teenth century  their  individualities  were  well 
accentuated.  How,  then,  can  America  be  said 
to  be  the  first  born  ?  And  the  answer  clearly 
is  that  the  nations  of  Europe  had  their  birth 
out  of  medievalism  and  its  institutions  and 
methods  of  thought.  Feudalism  and  scholas- 
ticism entered  into  their  very  being.  The 
stamp  of  the  middle  ages  was  upon  them  all. 
Its  spirit  permeated  them.  Long  was  the  proc- 
ess and  fierce  was  the  struggle  before  the  new 
ideas  could  enter  in  and  take  possession.  But 
the  spirit  of  the  modern  world  turned  away 
from  medievalism ;  it  sought  as  its  affinity  the 
spirit  of  that  other  glorious  age  of  youth,  the 


CORRELATIONS  225 

spirit  of  that  Grecian  world,  and  the  fruit  of 
that  union  was  America. 

And  it  all  began  in  the  time  of  the  weaving 
of  the  Grail  Legend  into  its  modern  Christian 
form ;  it  began  with  the  teaching  of  Aristotle 
in  the  Moorish  universities  of  Spain  and  with 
the  Greek  texts  brought  back  by  the  Cru- 
saders; it  began  with  St.  Thomas  Aquinas, 
the  Angelical  doctor,  who  wrote  his  "Com- 
mentaries on  the  Politics  of  Aristotle,"  and 
his  work  on  "The  Kule  of  Princes,"  in  which 
the  famous  dictum  that  man  is  by  nature  a 
political  animal  is  used  as  a  basis  for  much 
of  the  reasoning.1 

It  was  continued  with  Nicolaus  von  Cusa 
and  his  "Science  of  Ignorance."  It  was  only 
when  Galahad  began  to  feel  his  ignorance  and 
asked  the  meaning  of  that  strange  procession 
of  the  Grail  that  his  touch  brought  healing. 
So  Socrates  taught  by  first  making  men  feel 

1  "  St.  Thomas's  theory  of  law  and  justice  is  the  channel 
through  which  the  doctrines  of  Aristotle,  the  Stoics,  Cicero, 
the  Roman  Imperial  Jurists,  and  St.  Augustine,  blended  into 
a  rounded  whole,  were  transmitted  to  modern  times."  —  Dun- 
ning, Political  Theories,  Ancient  and  Mediaeval,  p.  192  ;  also 
see  pages  197  and  198  and  citations. 
15 


226    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

their  ignorance.  "Tell  me,"  asks  a  pupil, 
"wherein  the  knowledge  of  Socrates  differed 
from  that  of  others?"  "Just,"  he  answered, 
"as  the  knowledge  of  a  seeing  man  differs 
from  the  knowledge  of  a  blind  man  about  the 
brightness  of  the  sun.  The  blind  man  who 
has  heard  much  about  the  brightness  of  the 
sun,  and  that  it  is  so  great  as  to  be  incom- 
prehensible, believes  that,  from  what  he  has 
heard,  he  knows  something  about  the  sun's 
brightness,  whereof,  nevertheless,  he  is  alto- 
gether ignorant.  But  the  seeing  man,  if  he 
is  asked  about  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  how 
great  it  is,  answers  that  he  is  ignorant.  And 
so,  in  respect  of  that,  he  has  the  science  of 
ignorance.  For  light  being  apprehended  only 
by  sight,  he  experiences  the  brightness  of  the 
sun  as  transcending  his  sight;  whereas  the 
other  has  neither  the  science  of  ignorance  nor 
any  experience."1 

Now  this  Nicolaus  von  Cusa,  born  in  1401 
and  the  son  of  a  fisherman,  had  a  remarkable 

1  From  the  Docta  Ignorantia  or  Learned  Ignorance  of  the 
Cardinal  Nicolaus  von  Cusa,  as  cited  in  Maurice,  Moral  and 
Metaphysical  Philos.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  58. 


CORRELATIONS  227 

mind  and  a  wide  vision.  He  caught  the  sense 
of  unity.  He  lamented  that  the  world  was 
divided  by  that  which  should  unite  it.  He 
saw  the  diversities  of  religion  prevailing  among 
men  as  a  retarding  element  and  as  a  menace. 
What  he  writes  on  government  reads  like 
Rousseau.  "Since  all  men,"  he  says,  "are  by 
nature  free,  all  government,  whether  in  the 
form  of  written  law  or  of  a  ruler's  will, 
springs  solely  from  the  consent  of  the  sub- 
jects. And  since  all  men  are  by  nature 
equally  endowed  with  power,  the  superior 
position  of  any  one  can  be  due  only  to  the 
choice  and  consent  of  the  rest."  His  phil- 
osophical reflection  takes  the  widest  range. 
He  considers  that  powers  in  humanity  are 
latent,  —  whether  spiritual,  temporal,  or  phys- 
ical powers,  —  and  that  they  are  called  into 
action  by  the  stimulating  influence  from 
above.1  In  other  words,  he  looked  at  man- 
kind as  adapted  to  divine  reactions.  And  now 
this  same  story  moves  on  to  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  we  find  the  Dutch  Declaration  of 
Independence,  adopted  at  The  Hague,  July 

1  Dunning,  Polit.   Theories,  pp.  273,  275. 


228 

26,  1581,  declaring  that  God  did  not  create 
the  people  as  slaves  to  the  prince,  but  rather, 
the  prince  for  the  sake  of  his  subjects,  to  love 
them  as  a  father  and  care  for  them  as  a  shep- 
herd. This  monument  of  liberty  asserts  that 
when  the  prince  disregards  his  duty  and  op- 
presses the  people,  then  he  is  no  longer  a 
prince,  but  a  tyrant,  and  the  people  have  the 
right  to  oppose  his  authority  and  set  up  another 
ruler;  and  as  the  authority  for  such  action  on 
their  part,  the  appeal  is  made  to  "what  the 
law  of  nature  dictates  for  the  defence  of 
libert}',  which  we  ought  to  transmit  to  poster- 
ity even  at  the  hazard  of  our  lives."  1 

In  England  mighty  intellects  are  at  work  in 
the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries.  New- 
ton and  Bacon,  Locke  and  Milton  mould  the 
new  thought  into  systems  which  are  to  domi- 
nate the  succeeding  centuries. 

And  then  comes  the  wonderful  eighteenth 
century,  and  the  story  culminates  in  France 
and  in  America. 

It  is,  we  say  again,  one  story,  —  the  story 
of  the  political  genius  of  Greece  caught  up  by 
1  Old  South  Leaflets,  No.  72. 


CORRELATIONS  229 

mankind  in  the  early  dawn  of  the  Renaissance, 
and  inspiring  and  guiding  the  splendid  strug- 
gle of  the  modern  world  toward  freedom.  But 
we  have  watched  that  other  initial  leaf,  Israel, 
and  we  know  its  part  in  the  story.  The  Con- 
tinental Congress  knew  it  well.  When  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  had  been  read 
before  that  body  on  July  4,  1776,  it  was  "  Re- 
solved: That  Dr.  Franklin,  Mr.  J.  Adams, 
and  Mr.  Jefferson  be  a  committee  to  prepare 
a  device  for  a  seal  of  the  United  States  of 
North  America."  This  committee  reported 
August  10  and  proposed  a  seal  bearing  the 
national  emblems  of  England,  Scotland,  Ire- 
land, France,  Germany,  and  Holland,  "point- 
ing out  the  countries  from  which  these  States 
have  been  peopled."  And  then  the  report 
continues  as  follows :  — 

"On  the  other  side  of  the  said  Great  Seal 
should  be  the  following  Device:  Pharaoh  sitting 
in  an  open  Chariot,  a  Crown  oil  his  head  and  a 
sword  in  his  hand  passing  through  the  divided 
Waters  of  the  Red  Sea  in  pursuit  of  the  Israelites : 
Rays  from  a  pillar  of  Fire  in  the  Cloud  expressive 
of  the  divine  Presence  and  Command,  beaming  on 


230    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Moses  who  stands  on  the  shore  and  extending 
his  hand  over  the  sea  causes  it  to  overwhelm 
Pharaoh. 

' '  Motto :  Rebellion  to  tyrants  is  obedience  to 
God."  * 

This  seal  was  not  adopted.  The  committee 
was  discharged  and  successive  committees  ap- 
pointed, until  the  seal  at  present  in  use  was 
decided  upon.  It  may  be  interesting  to  note 
in  this  connection  that  the  report  on  the  seal 
as  finally  adopted  provided  for  a  reverse,  hav- 
ing upon  it  an  unfinished  pyramid,  signifying 
strength  and  duration;  over  the  pyramid  an 
eye  in  a  triangle,  surrounded  with  a  glory 
proper;  over  the  eye  these  words,  Annuit 
CaeptiS)  alluding  to  the  many  signal  inter- 
positions of  Providence  in  favor  of  the  Ameri- 
can cause.  On  the  base  of  the  pyramid  were 
the  letters  MDCCLXXVI;  and  underneath 
the  following  motto,  Novus  Ordo  Seclorum,  sig- 
nifying the  beginning  of  the  new  American  era. 

1  The  Seal  of  the  United  States :  How  it  was  developed 
and  adopted.  By  Gaillard  Hunt.  Issued  by  U.  S.  Dept.  of 
State,  Washington,  1892.  Also  see  "  The  Jew  as  a  Patriot," 
by  Madison  C.  Peters ;  Introductory  Essay,  by  Oscar  S. 
Straus,  p.  28. 


CORRELATIONS  231 

Yes,  it  was  the  new  order  of  the  centuries. 
With  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  the 
Federation,  and  the  Constitution,  were  put  into 
tangible  and  working  shape  those  principles  of 
modern  liberty  whose  genesis  we  have  tried 
to  trace.  We  have  taken  as  the  beginning  of 
our  story,  the  beginning  of  the  new  order  of 
the  centuries,  that  twelfth  and  thirteenth  cen- 
tury period  —  just  before  the  dawn.  The  new 
order  of  the  centuries  fairly  began,  we  think, 
with  the  Italian  Renaissance  and  the  discovery 
of  America.  But  in  a  certain  and  very  prac- 
tical sense  the  founding  of  our  fabric  of  gov- 
ernment may  be  considered  as  ushering  in  the 
new  era,  and  what  preceded  it  as  lines  of  prep- 
aration. For  political  accomplishment  is,  after 
all,  basic.  All  other  animals  achieve  their  des- 
tiny unconsciously  and  without  effort  on  their 
part.  They  find  an  order,  of  nature  which 
carries  them  on  to  that  thing  they  were  in- 
tended to  be.  It  is  not  so  with  man.  He  can 
attain  his  true  end  and  become  that  which  na- 
ture intended  he  should  be,  only  by  the  exercise 
of  creative  action  on  his  own  part.  This  dis- 
tinguishes him  from  the  mere  creature.  It  is 


232    AMERICA   IN  RELATION   TO    HISTORY 

thus  lie  is  made  in  the  image  of  his  Creator. 
Even  in  the  material  world  man  is  left  an  im- 
portant share  in  creatorship.  He  must  find 
out  the  powers  of  nature  adapted  to  his  use 
and  devise  and  construct  instruments  to  utilize 
these  powers.  He  must  change  the  character 
of  the  soil  and  the  nature  of  its  product  by 
cultivation,  and  must  create  implements  for 
harvesting  that  product;  he  must  learn  how 
to  stamp  out  diseases,  to  reset  the  broken 
bones,  to  revitalize  the  exhausted  frame. 
But  in  the  spiritual  realm  man  is  left  a  far 
greater  part.  He  does  not  find  a  political 
system  ready  made  to  his  hand  and  only  re- 
quiring a  co-operating  skill  and  care  on  his 
part.  He  must  construct  the  visible  State  de 
novo;  and  so  he  must  construct  the  visible 
Church.  As  a  social  being  he  cannot  attain 
his  proper  development  alone;  his  normal 
growth  is  dependent  upon  the  State,  and  upon 
a  State  in  which  he  shall  have  perfect  freedom 
to  grow.  This  State  he  must  build  for  him- 
self. So  in  the  practical,  political  sense  a  new 
order  of  the  centuries  may  be  said  to  have  be- 
gun with  the  formation  of  the  government  of 


CORRELATIONS  233 

the  United  States.  For  the  modern  world  chose 
America  as  the  propitious  spot  in  which  to  work 
out  its  new  hopes  and  its  new  aspirations. 

When  we  speak  of  America  and  of  the 
United  States  we  are  speaking  of  a  world- 
movement  and  a  world-process  of  develop- 
ment. In  America  the  people  first  fairly 
crowned  itself  as  king.  For  the  people  must 
have  kings ;  they  must  worship  some  divinity. 
The  only  question  is  whether  they  shall  find 
the  real  divinity  in  themselves  or  whether 
they  shall  set  up  a  fictitious  divinity  and  call 
him  monarch. 

Rome  set  up  its  emperors  as  gods  and  wor- 
shipped them.  A  recent  writer  says  that  "the 
corner-stone  of  the  Empire  was  the  worship  of 
Octavius  Csesar  as  the  Son  of  God,  'Divus 
Filius,'  "  and  quotes  Tacitus  as  declaring  that 
"  the  reverence  due  to  the  gods  was  no  longer 
exclusive.  Augustus  claimed  equal  worship. 
Temples  were  built  and  statues  were  erected 
to  him;  a  mortal  man  was  adored;  and  priests 
and  pontiffs  were  appointed  to  pay  him  im- 
pious homage."1 

1  Delmar,  The  Middle  Ages  Revisited,  p.  1. 


234    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

We  find  this  idolatry  of  royalty,  this  blind, 
trusting  love  of  the  people  for  their  kings,  in 
eighteenth-century  times  and  especially  in 
France;  and  the  rulers  were  quite  ready  to 
take  advantage  of  it.  Michelet  says  of  Louis 
XIV. :  "  He  took  adoration  at  its  word  and 
believed  himself  a  god ;  "  and  of  the  French 
people :  "  I  hear  this  exclamation  escape  from 
the  bosom  of  ancient  France,  —  a  tender  ex- 
pression of  intense  love,  —  'O  my  king! '  " 1 

Ah,  it  is  pathetic  to  see  how  humanity  has 
kept  its  gods  far  off  and  set  them  up  in  inac- 
cessible mountains,  and  has  imagined  a  man  a 
divinity  and  set  him  up  and  worshipped  him, 
instead  of  looking  to  the  God  within  their  own 
breasts,  instead  of  knowing  that  they  are  part 
of  God  and  one  with  God;  and  when  One 
came  to  teach  men  the  lesson  —  they  crucified 
him!  It  is  absolutely  impossible  to  divorce 
religion  from  politics.  They  spring  from  the 
same  roots  and  the  same  necessities  of  human 
nature.  But  the  people  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury found  their  trust  betrayed  and  that  their 
kings  had  deceived  them.  They  found  their 

1  Michelet,  French  Rev.,  p.  35. 


CORRELATIONS  235 

kings  to  be  wolves  instead  of  shepherds. 
Where,  then,  could  they  look?  Only  to  the 
king,  to  the  divinity,  within  them.  And  that 
is  why  Rousseau  and  his  restatement  of  the 
law  of  nature  were  caught  up  with  such  a  pas- 
sionate enthusiasm  by  the  people.  They  found 
that  they  must  govern  themselves  or  be  de- 
voured, and  so  they  hailed  as  their  deliverer 
the  man  who  bade  them  look  within  their  own 
breasts  for  their  king,  and  held  his  "Social 
Contract "  as  a  sacred  thing  and  carried  it  in 
their  processions.  "  To  educate  men  into  self- 
government,"  says  Charles  Kingsley,  "that  is 
the  purpose  of  the  government  of  God;  and 
some  of  the  men  of  the  eighteenth  century  did 
learn  that  lesson." 

Now  Rousseau  did  not  appeal  alone  to  the 
wronged,  the  unthinking,  or  the  enthusiastic. 
He  touched  the  divinest  chord  in  humanity, 
just  as  did  that  brilliant-eyed  Scottish  peasant 
in  his  "A  man  's  a  man,  for  a'  that;  "  but  he 
touched  it  in  such  a  master  fashion  that  it  ap- 
pealed to  the  greatest  intellect  of  the  age,  one 
of  the  greatest  intellects  of  all  ages.  That 
shy  and  retired  student,  never  going  beyond 


236    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

his  native  bounds,  felt  the  impulse  of  human- 
ity; in  his  quiet  garden  walks  he  caught  the 
spirit  of  Rousseau  and  took  him  as  a  teacher. 
"I  myself,"  says  Immanuel  Kant,  "am  by  in- 
clination an  investigator.  I  feel  an  absolute 
thirst  for  knowledge  and  a  longing  unrest  for 
further  information.  There  was  a  time  when 
I  thought  that  all  this  constituted  the  real 
worth  of  mankind,  and  I  despised  the  rabble 
who  knew  nothing.  Rousseau  has  shown  me 
my  error.  This  dazzling  advantage  vanishes, 
and  I  should  regard  myself  as  of  much  less 
use  than  the  common  laborers  if  I  did  not 
believe  that  this  speculation  (that  of  the 
Socratic  critical  philosophy)  can  give  a  value 
to  everything  else  to  restore  the  rights  of 
humanity."1 

And  again  I  say  it  is  one  story.  The  law 
of  nature  of  the  Greek  philosophers  and  the 
Roman  lawyers,  together  with  the  worth  of  the 
individual  growing  out  of  his  personal  relations 
with  Jehovah  as  revealed  to  the  consciousness 
of  Israel,  found  in  Christianity  a  solvent  and, 
after  centuries  of  waiting,  began  in  the  last 

1  As  cited  in  Paulsen's  Immanuel  Kant,  p.  39. 


CORRELATIONS  237 

years  of  the  middle  ages  to  take  on  the  form 
of  modern  democracy.  From  Aristotle  and 
Isaiah  to  Immanuel  Kant,  to  Washington,  to 
Lincoln  —  the  chain  is  perfect. 

But  our  story  is  not  alone  a  political  story. 
The  meaning  and  the  purpose  of  the  life  of 
humanity  in  this  world  is  the  complete  devel- 
opment of  all  the  capacities  of  mankind.  His- 
tory is  the  record  of  that  development.  The 
visible  State  or  nation  is  but  a  means  to  secure 
this  development;  it  is  not  an  end  in  itself. 
The  nature  of  man  is  a  unit.  The  develop- 
ment of  his  political  capacity  is  fundamental 
in  securing  freedom  for  his  growth.  But  he 
has  other  capacities ;  he  has  a  sense  of  beauty, 
his  nature  is  normally  aesthetic.  The  world 
of  nature  about  him  is  full  of  beauty,  and  his 
creative  spirit,  reacting  to  these  impressions 
continually  pouring  in  upon  him,  seeks  to 
express  itself  in  the  painting,  the  statue,  the 
poem,  the  literary  work  so  moulded  that  it 
takes  on  the  form  of  art.  And  so  we  have 
looked  at  the  bounds  in  art  in  the  great  epochs 
we  have  been  considering  as  a  vital  part  of  our 


238    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

story.  The  sense  of  beauty  and  the  passion 
for  its  expression  in  outward  form  marks  a 
people  well  on  its  way  to  the  unfolding  of  its 
real  destiny.  It  was  not  by  chance  that  the 
age  of  Plato  and  of  Aristotle  was  the  age  of 
the  Grecian  masterpieces  of  art.  Nor  was  it 
by  chance  that  America  was  discovered  in  the 
age  of  Raphael  and  of  Michael  Angelo.  The 
human  spirit,  once  aroused  to  activity,  asserts 
itself  in  a  varied  exercise  of  its  inherent  ca- 
pacities. Accomplishment  in  one  department 
stimulates  to  achievement  in  another  depart- 
ment. The  philosopher  stands  before  the 
Sistine  Madonna  or  drinks  in  the  great  strains 
of  a  Wagner  music-drama,  and  the  reactions 
in  his  brain  call  forth  the  new  philosophic 
thought.  A  Columbus  is  inspired  by  a  Dante 
or  a  Leonardo.  Italy,  that  land  of  art,  is 
visited  by  an  Erasmus  or  a  Colet,  and  the 
very  air  is  vibrating  with  impulses  that  make 
for  quickened  intellectual  processes.  Shakes- 
peare and  Milton  and  the  English  Bible  are  as 
much  a  part  of  American  history  as  Washing- 
ton or  Lincoln.  They  stimulated  and  in- 
spired the  minds  of  the  men  who  came  here 


CORRELATIONS  239 

and  made  America.  And  so  it  is  with  the 
progress  in  science.  Gunpowder,  printing, 
paper,  and  the  compass  may  be  said  to  have 
been  created  for  modern  times  by  Giotto  and 
Dante,  for  they  sprang  from  the  modern  mind 
as  stimulated  by  these  great  artists;  and  in 
their  turn  these  inventions  had  a  very  direct 
influence  upon  the  discovery  of  America  and 
its  subsequent  history.  In  the  same  sense 
Galileo  and  Newton  and  Harvey  and  Linnaeus 
are  a  part  of  the  story  of  the  settlement  of 
America,  for  they  contributed  largely  to  that 
mighty  march  of  progress  which  would  not  be 
retarded  by  the  unfavoring  conditions  in  the 
Old  World,  but  swept  across  the  ocean  to  find 
a  field  where  it  might  move  on  unhampered 
and  unharassed.  Thus  it  is,  I  think,  that  we 
find  no  unrelated  event  in  the  story  we  have 
been  trying  to  tell,  but  that  these  differing 
lines  of  development  are  all  related  to  each 
other  and  may  be  fairly  correlated  with  the 
epochs  of  American  history. 

We  have  seen  how  the  forest  federation  of 
Hiawatha  had  a  powerful  influence  not  only 
upon  the  subsequent  history  of  this  country, 


240    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

but  upon  European  history;  how  it  decided 
the  dispute  as  to  supremacy  upon  this  con- 
tinent. Now  this  story  of  the  Five  Nations 
is  one  that  well  deserves  careful  study  and 
thought.  It  has  sometimes  been  a  question  in 
my  mind  how  far  the  incidents  concerning  the 
formation  of  this  Iroquois  federation  and  how 
far  the  personality  of  Hiawatha  himself  are  to 
be  considered  as  strictly  historical.  I  have 
followed  Horatio  Hale's  narration  of  the  facts 
in  this  regard  as  set  forth  in  his  "Iroquois 
Book  of  Rites,"  and  such  investigation  as  I 
have  been  able  to  give  to  the  subject  leads  me 
to  think  that  there  is  reasonable  ground  for 
accepting  his  account  of  the  matter  as  based 
upon  historical  facts.  Mr.  Hale  was  a  trained 
and  conscientious  observer,  his  investigations 
were  thorough,  and  his  book  is  quite  convinc- 
ing. He  tells  us  that  his  material  was  "  drawn 
chiefly  from  notes  gathered  during  many  visits 
to  the  Reserve  of  the  Six  Nations,  on  the  Grand 
River,  in  Ontario,  supplemented  by  informa- 
tion obtained  in  two  visits  to  the  Onondaga 
Reservation,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  near 
Syracuse,"  and  that  his  informants  were  the 


CORRELATIONS  241 

most  experienced  councillors,  and  especially 
the  "wampum-keepers,"  the  official  annalists 
of  their  people.  He  says  concerning  Hia- 
watha: "About  the  main  events  of  his  his- 
tory, and  about  his  character  and  purposes 
there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt.  We  have 
the  wampum  belts  which  he  handled,  and 
whose  simple  hieroglyphics  preserve  the  mem- 
ory of  the  public  acts  in  which  he  took  part. 
We  have  also  in  the  'Iroquois  Book  of  Rites  ' 
a  still  more  clear  and  convincing  testimony  to 
the  character  both  of  the  legislator  and  of 
the  people  for  whom  his  institutions  were 
designed."  He  further  says  of  the  confed- 
eration that  it  was  not  to  be  a  limited  one; 
"it  was  to  be  indefinitely  expansible.  The 
avowed  design  of  its  proposer  was  to  abolish 
war  altogether.  He  wished  the  federation  to 
extend  until  all  the  tribes  of  men  should  be 
included  in  it,  and  peace  should  everywhere 
reign.  Such  is  the  positive  testimony  of  the 
Iroquois  themselves;  and  their  statement,  as 
will  be  seen,  is  supported  by  historical  evi- 
dence."1 Even  if  one  was  disposed  to  con- 

1  Hale,  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites,  p.  22. 
16 


242    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

sider  the  Iroquois  accounts  of  the  origin  of 
their  federation  as  possibly  legendary  in  their 
character,  yet  the  nature  of  the  federation 
itself,  the  character  of  the  people  composing 
it,  and  the  influence  it  exerted  upon  mighty 
events,  are  established  facts. 

From  the  time  when  the  "  Half  Moon  "  sailed 
up  the  Hudson,  the  relations  of  the  Dutch  and 
the  Iroquois  were  friendly.  When  the  charter 
for  New  Netherlands  was  signed  in  1614,  and 
a  port  and  trading-post  established  just  south 
of  the  present  city  of  Albany,  a  very  real 
friendship  sprang  up  between  the  Dutch 
traders  and  the  Five  Nations.  At  Lancaster, 
in  1744,  Cannassatego  related  the  story  of  that 
friendship  with  all  the  imagery  so  dear  to  his 
race  and  of  which  he  was  a  master.  He  told 
of  the  arrival  of  the  first  Dutch  ship  bearing 
its  awls  and  knives  and  hatchets  and  guns, 
and  how  his  people  were  taught  the  uses  of 
these  tools.  He  related  how  well  pleased  the 
Indians  were  with  the  new-comers,  so  that  they 
not  only  tied  the  ship  to  the  bushes,  but,  find- 
ing these  too  slender,  removed  the  rope  and 
tied  it  to  the  trees,  and  again  to  a  strong  rock, 


CORRELATIONS  243 

and  finally  to  a  big  mountain.  These  were  the 
terms  by  which  he  indicated  how  strongly  they 
had  bound  the  Dutch  settlers  to  themselves. 
And  then,  he  said,  the  English  came,  and  not 
finding  the  band  strong  enough,  offered  them 
a  silver  chain  to  fasten  the  ship,  and  that  this 
chain  had  lasted  ever  since.1  This  was  a  part 
of  the  great  Albany  speech  delivered  by  Can- 
nassatego,  in  which,  as  you  remember,  he 
pointed  to  the  Iroquois  confederation  and 
urged  the  colonies  to  unite. 

The  next  year,  in  February,  1745,  we  find 
Governor  Thomas  of  Pennsylvania  sending  a 
message  to  the  Assembly  and  asking  their  con- 
currence in  the  appointment  of  commissioners 
to  meet  their  representatives  from  the  other 
colonies,  that  steps  might  be  taken  to  bring 
about  a  union  for  defence  and  to  secure  the 
fidelity  of  the  Five  Nations.  This  message 
was  called  forth  by  letters  just  received  from 
Governors  Clinton  and  Shirley. 

On  March  27,  1745,  Governor  Clinton  wrote 
to  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  and  informed  him 

1  Colden's  History  of  the  Five  Nations  (London,  1874), 
p.  104.  Also  see  Appendix,  Note  IX. 


244    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

of  a  letter  he  had  received  from  the  Governor 
of  Massachusetts  concerning  the  garrison  of 
Louisburg.  Governor  Shirley,  in  his  letter, 
had  set  forth  the  weak  condition  of  that  garri- 
son and  the  fact  that  the  General  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  through  the  committees  of  its 
two  houses,  had  reported  that  in  their  opinion 
it  was  incumbent  upon  the  Governor  to  under- 
take its  reduction.  Governor  Shirley  had  also 
urged  strongly  that  New  York  should  furnish 
its  quota  for  this  enterprise.  Governor  Clin- 
ton now  recounts  his  calling  together  the 
Provincial  Assembly  and  their  delay  in  acting 
in  the  matter.  "They  have,"  he  says,  "been 
deliberating  above  twelve  days  thereon,  and 
as  yet  come  to  no  final  resolution  with  re- 
spect to  their  quota."  Governor  Clinton,  then 
speaking  of  the  increase  of  the  French  settle- 
ments "on  our  backs,"  as  he  phrases  it,  com- 
plains of  their  having  almost  monopolized  the 
Indian  trade  by  means  of  the  lake  Cadarqui, 
"upon  which  they  have  two  or  three  vessels, 
and  along  which  they  have  built  forts  and 
trading-houses."  He  goes  on  to  recommend 
the  building  of  a  fort  in  the  Seneca  country, 


CORRELATIONS  245 

the  construction  of  vessels  of  superior  strength 
to  the  French,  the  raising  of  a  regiment  of  one 
thousand  men  to  be  sent  from  England  with 
artillery  and  munitions  of  war,  and  strongly 
asserts  that  "  if  something  is  not  soon  done  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  French  encroachments  and 
intrigues  among  our  Indians,  this  province 
must  certainly  become  a  prey  to  the  enemy."1 

In  July,  1748,  a  conference  with  the  Six 
Nations  was  held  at  Albany,  at  which  were 
present  Governors  Clinton  and  Shirley,  and, 
among  others,  Cadwallader  Golden  and  Archi- 
bald Kennedy,  both  of  His  Majesty's  council 
for  the  province  of  New  York.  The  object  of 
this  conference  was  to  remove  the  uneasiness 
and  disappointment  of  the  Indians,  whose  hopes 
of  vigorous  action  against  the  French  and  of  an 
attack  upon  Quebec  had  been  dashed,  who  had 
been  left  to  do  most  of  the  fighting  themselves, 
and  some  of  whose  principal  men  had  been 
either  killed  or  captured.2 

Now  in  1751  there  was  printed  and  sold  by 
James  Parker  at  the  New  Printing  Office  in 

1  N.  Y.  Colonial  Doc.  vi.  274. 

2  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc.  vi.  437. 


246    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Beaver  Street,  New  York  City,  a  little  pamphlet 
written  by  Archibald  Kennedy,  whose  name  we 
have  just  seen  as  one  of  the  commissioners  at 
the  Albany  conference  of  1748,  and  bearing  the 
title :  "  The  Importance  of  Gaining  and  Pre- 
serving the  Friendship  of  the  Indians  to  the 
British  Interest." l  In  the  course  of  this  pam- 
phlet the  author  said : 

"  Whenever  the  Colonies  think  fit  to  join,  Indian 
affairs  will  wear  quite  another  aspect.  The  very 
name  of  such  a  confederacy  will  greatly  encourage 
our  Indians,  and  strike  terror  into  the  French  ; 
and  be  a  means  to  prevent  their  unsupportable 
encroachments  which  they  daily  make  with  im- 
punity and  insult  ;  and  this  is  what  they  have  long 
dreaded." 

At  the  close  of  this  pamphlet  was  printed  a 
letter  written  by  a  gentleman  to  whom  the 
manuscript  had  been  submitted,  and  in  this 
letter  was  the  following  paragraph  : 

"It  would  be  a  very  strange  thing  if  Six 
Nations  of  ignorant  savages  should  be  capable  of 
forming  a  scheme  for  such  an  union,  and  be  able 

1  See  Appendix,  Note  X. 


CORRELATIONS  247 

to  execute  it  in  such  a  manner  as  that  it  has  sub- 
sisted ages,  and  appears  indissoluble ;  and  yet  that 
a  like  union  should  be  impracticable  for  ten  or  a 
dozen  English  colonies,  to  whom  it  is  more  neces- 
sary and  must  be  more  advantageous,  and  who 
cannot  be  supposed  to  want  an  equal  understand- 
ing of  their  interests." 1 

By  the  year  1754  the  situation  had  become 
critical.  Virginia  had  already  taken  decisive 
steps.  Governor  Dinwiddie  had  displayed 
much  zeal  and  energy  in  his  attempts  to  resist 
the  encroachments  of  the  French.  He  had 
himself  arranged  for  a  conference  with  some  of 
the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations,  although  this 
effort  on  his  part  resulted  in  nothing.  But  his 
sending  of  a  youthful  messenger  to  the  Ohio 
bearing  a  demand  to  the  French  commandant 
there  to  withdraw  from  his  position,  amounted 
to  much.  This  was  in  1753,  and  the  messenger 
was  only  twenty- one  years  of  age  —  it  was  the 
youthful  Washington.  The  same  day  he  re- 
ceived his  commission  from  Governor  Din- 

1  For  an  interesting  letter  from  Cadwallader  Colden  to 
Governor  Clinton,  dated  August  8,  1751,  see  N.  Y.  Col.  Doc. 
vi.  738. 


248    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

widdie,  Washington  started  upon  his  journey. 
This  was  no  holiday  trip.  It  was  the  winter 
season,  much  of  the  route  to  be  travelled  was 
unexplored,  and  the  region  abounded  in  hostile 
Indians.  Arriving  at  Wills  Creek  on  the  14th 
of  November,  he  secured  Christopher  Gist  as 
his  guide  to  cross  the  Alleghany  Mountains, 
and  arrived  at  Turtle  Creek  on  the  Mononga- 
hela  November  22.  Washington's  first  objec- 
tive point  was  to  see  Tanacharissin,  the 
Half-King  —  so  called  because  his  authority 
was  only  partial,  being  subject  to  that  of  the 
Five  Nations.  It  was  all-important  to  secure 
the  co-operation  of  Tanacharissin  and  the 
Iroquois  braves  in  that  vicinity,  and  to  bring 
about  this  result  constituted  an  important  part 
of  the  orders  of  the  youthful  major.  The  task 
was  not  an  easy  one,  as  the  French  comman- 
dant was  using  every  artifice  and  distributing 
his  presents  and  his  fire-water  freely  in  his 
attempts  to  secure  the  Iroquois  as  his  allies. 
Washington's  journal,  which  he  kept  during 
this  Ohio  trip  and  which  was  published  imme- 
diately upon  his  return,  is  exceedingly  interest- 
ing reading.  He  writes : 


CORRELATIONS  249 

"  Shingiss  attended  us  to  the  Logstown,  where 
we  arrived  between  sun-setting  and  dark,  the 
twenty-fifth  day  after  I  left  Williamsburg.  We 
travelled  over  some  extremely  good  and  bad  land 
to  get  to  this  place. 

As  soon  as  I  came  into  town,  I  went  to  Monaca- 
tocha  (as  the  Half-King  was  out  at  his  hunting 
cabin  on  Little  Beaver  Creek,  about  fifteen  miles 
off),  and  informed  him  by  John  Davidson,  my 
Indian  interpreter,  that  I  was  sent  a  messenger  to 
the  French  general,  and  was  ordered  to  call  upon 
the  sachems  of  the  Six  Nations  to  acquaint  them 
with  it.  I  gave  him  a  string  of  wampum  and  a 
twist  of  tobacco,  and  desired  him  to  send  for  the 
Half-King,  which  he  promised  to  do  by  a  runner 
in  the  morning,  and  for  other  sachems.  I  invited 
them  and  the  other  great  men  present  to  my  tent, 
where  they  stayed  about  an  hour,  and  returned." 1 

Washington's  interviews  with  the  Half-King 
were  satisfactory,  and,  taking  him  with  him, 
he  proceeded  to  find  the  French  commandant 
and  to  deliver  to  him  the  message  he  had 
brought.  Every  blandishment  was  used  by 
the  French  officers  to  gain  over  the  Half- 

1  Washington's  Journal  of  a  Tour  to  the  Ohio  in  1753. 


250    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

King,  and  Washington  had  considerable  diffi- 
culty in  getting  his  Indian  companions  safely 
away  again  from  the  seductive  influences  that 
were  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  The  return 
trip  was  one  of  hardship  and  peril.  The  snow 
in  the  mountains  and  the  ice  in  the  rivers  made 
the  journey  difficult  and  hazardous.  From  the 
journal  of  Christopher  Gist,  the  guide,  we  learn 
that  as  they  were  travelling  a  treacherous  In- 
dian who  was  accompanying  them  separated 
himself  from  them  and  opened  fire  upon  them 
from  his  musket.  When  he  had  been  overcome 
Christopher  Gist  wished  to  kill  him,  but  Wash- 
ington forbade  this  and  does  not  even  mention 
the  circumstance  in  his  diary.  So  early  were 
magnanimity,  poise,  and  self-restraint  mani- 
fest as  traits  in  the  character  of  Washington. 

The  message  brought  from  the  French 
commandant  was  entirely  unsatisfactory.  The 
Assembly  of  Virginia  authorized  Governor 
Dinwiddie  to  raise  a  regiment  of  three  hun- 
dred men,  and  Major  Washington  was  ap- 
pointed its  lieutenant-colonel. 

On  April  27,  1754,  Washington  sent  a  letter 
to  Governor  Hamilton  informing  him  of  the 


CORRELATIONS  251 

capture  by  the  French  of  a  small  fort  in  the 
"  Forks  of  Mohongialo." l  It  was  evident  that 
a  conflict  was  at  hand,  and  some  united  action 
by  the  colonies  was  desired  as  much  in  Eng- 
land as  it  was  by  the  colonies  themselves. 

On  the  14th  of  June,  1754,  the  king  caused 
a  communication  to  be  addressed  to  the  Lords 
of  Trade  and  Plantations  to  the  effect  that  it 
appeared  to  His  Majesty  highly  expedient  that 
a  plan  of  general  concert  for  mutual  and  com- 
mon defence  should  be  entered  into  by  the 
colonies,  and  signifying  it  to  be  the  king's 
pleasure  that  such  a  plan  should  be  prepared 
and  sent  to  the  several  governors  of  the  Ameri- 
can colonies.2 

The  Albany  congress  met  June  19,  1754. 
On  June  24  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
prepare  and  receive  plans  or  schemes  for  the 
union  of  the  colonies  and  to  digest  them  into 
one  general  plan.3 

On  June  27,  three  days  later,  the  general 
speech  to  be  delivered  to  the  Indians  was 

1  See  Appendix,  Note  XI. 

3  Doc.  relating  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  844. 

8  Ibid.,  p.  860. 


252    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

agreed  upon.  It  contained  the  usual  expres- 
sions as  to  brightening  and  strengthening  the 
chain  of  friendship,  recommended  that  all,  and 
especially  the  brethren  of  the  Onondaga  na- 
tion, should  call  in  their  friends  and  collect 
themselves  together  in  their  national  castles. 
It  called  attention  to  the  continual  encroach- 
ments of  the  French,  to  the  considerable  ter- 
ritory the  Iroquois  had  gained  through  the 
valor  of  their  fathers,  to  the  fact  that  the 
French  were  endeavoring  to  possess  them- 
selves of  this  whole  country,  and  that  trade 
and  communication  between  the  English  and 
the  Indians  would  soon  be  destroyed  and  the 
great  avenues  of  communication  blocked ;  and 
concluded  by  saying  :  "We  want  to  know 
whether  these  things  appear  to  you  in  the 
same  light  as  they  do  to  us,  or  whether  the 
French  taking  possession  of  the  lands  in  your 
country  and  building  forts  between  the  Lake 
Erie  and  River  Ohio  be  done  with  your  con- 
sent or  approbation."1 

Hendrick,  replying  July  2  on  behalf  of  the 
Six  Nations,  said:    "You  have  asked  us  the 

1  Doc.  relating  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  862. 


CORRELATIONS  253 

reason  of  our  living  in  this  dispersed  manner. 
The  reason  is  your  neglecting  us  for  these 
three  years  past.      (Then  taking  a  stick  and 
throwing  it  behind  his  back.)     You  have  thus 
thrown  us  behind  your  back,  and  disregarded 
us,  whereas  the  French  are  a  subtle  and  vigi- 
lant people,  ever  using  their  utmost  endeavors 
to  seduce  and  bring  our  people  over  to  them." 
After  denying  that  the  French  had  been  act- 
ing  with   the  consent  or  approbation  of  his 
people,  Hendrick  continued:  "  'T  is  your  fault, 
brethren,  that  we  are  not  strengthened  by  con- 
quest, for   we   would   have   gone   and   taken 
Crown  Point,  but  you  hindered  us;   we  had 
concluded  to  go  and  take  it,  but  we  were  told 
it  was  too  late  and  that  the  ice  would  not  bear 
us ;  instead  of  this  you  burnt  your  own  forts 
at  Seraghtoga  and  ran  away  from  it,   which 
was   a  shame  and  a  scandal   to   you.     Look 
about  your  country  and  see.      You  have  no 
fortifications  about  you  —  no,  not  even  to  this 
city.     'T  is  but  one  step  from  Canada  hither, 
and  the  French  may  easily  come  and  turn  you 
out  of  your  doors."1 

1  Doc.  relating  to  Col.  Hist.  N.  Y.,  vol.  vi.,  pp.  869-870. 


254    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

But  the  Ohio  encroachments  were  not  all. 
Massachusetts  reported  to  the  Congress  that 
the  French  had  similar  designs  in  New  Eng- 
land ;  that  they  had  built  forts  on  the  Kenne- 
bec  and  the  Connecticut,  and  that  detachments 
of  troops  from  Massachusetts  and  New  Hamp- 
shire had  been  sent  to  both  places  to  dislodge 
them. 

On  July  4  the  plan  for  a  union  was  further 
considered,  but  nothing  determined  upon,  and 
on  the  following  day  Hendrick,  for  the  Six 
Nations,  said:  "We  put  you  in  mind  of  our 
former  speech  of  the  defenceless  state  of  your 
frontiers,  particularly  of  this  city  (Schenec- 
tady)  and  of  the  country  of  the  Five  Nations. 
You  told  us  yesterday  you  were  consulting 
about  securing  both  yourself  and  us.  We 
beg  you  will  resolve  upon  something  speedily. 
You  are  not  safe  from  danger  one  day.  The 
French  have  their  hatchet  in  their  hands  both 
at  Ohio  and  in  two  places  in  New  England."1 

Now  on  this  same  fourth  day  of  July  dra- 
matic events  were  happening  in  the  Ohio  coun- 
try. The  soldiers  under  Washington,  together 

i  Doc.  relating  to  Col.  Hist.,  N.  Y.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  876. 


CORRELATIONS  255 

with  their  Indian  allies,  had  already  engaged 
in  that  skirmish  with  the  French  where  the 
shots  were  fired  that  virtually  commenced  a 
war  which  was  to  extend  over  all  Europe. 
Washington  marched  toward  Fort  du  Quesne 
to  attempt  to  dislodge  the  French  forces  there, 
but  on  his  way  it  was  reported  to  him  that 
the  enemy  were  advancing  as  numerous  as  the 
pigeons  in  the  woods.  So  he  retreated  to 
Fort  Necessity,  but  being  attacked  by  over- 
whelming forces,  he  was  compelled  to  capitu- 
late, and  on  this  4th  of  July,  when  the  Albany 
congress  was  considering  the  plan  for  a 
union,  Washington  was  sadly  marching  his 
little  band  out  from  their  hastily  constructed 
fortifications. 

So  this  plan  for  a  union  was  a  vitally  impor- 
tant matter  at  this  juncture.  Franklin's  mind 
must  have  been  full  of  thoughts  of  the  Iro- 
quois  Confederation  when,  just  before  leav- 
ing Philadelphia  for  Albany,  he  prepared  his 
"  Short  Hints  Towards  a  Scheme  for  Uniting 
the  Northern  Colonies."  He  was  going  to 
meet  the  chiefs  of  the  Five  Nations  at  that 
conference.  He  was  familiar  with  the  facts 


256    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

concerning  their  federation.  He  must  have 
considered  carefully  that  speech  made  by  Can- 
nassatego  at  Lancaster  in  1744,  for  he  was 
clerk  of  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly  at  that 
time.  The  Kennedy  pamphlet  of  1751  and 
kindred  publications  were  well  known  to  him. 
He  had  read  Cadwallader  Colden's  "  History  of 
the  Five  Nations,"  as  his  correspondence  with 
that  gentleman  proves,  and  he  sought  his 
suggestions  concerning  his  plan.1  Franklin's 
"  Short  Hints  Towards  a  Scheme  for  Uniting 
the  Northern  Colonies  "  provided  for  a  gov- 
ernor-general to  be  appointed  by  the  king,  and 
a  grand  council  to  be  chosen  by  the  colonial 
assemblies.  When  this  paper  was  submitted 
to  Mr.  Golden  he  asked  whether  the  grand 
council  was  to  have  a  negative  on  the  acts  of 
the  governor-general,  and  observed  that  it  was 
to  be  considered  that  England  would,  as  far  as 
she  could,  keep  her  colonies  dependent  upon 
her  and  that  this  might  as  well  be  considered 
in  all  schemes  to  which  the  king's  consent  is 
necessary.2  Even  in  these  "Short  Hints  "  pre- 

1  Sparks,  Works  of  Franklin,  vol.  iii.,  p.  30. 
'*  See  Appendix,  Note  XII. 


CORRELATIONS  257 

pared  by  Franklin,  Cadwallader  Golden  had  at 
once  detected  a  flavor  of  liberty  and  of  self- 
government  which  he  felt  would  not  be  ac- 
ceptable to  his  home  government.  And  his 
judgment  proved  to  be  correct.  The  plan  of 
government  as  finally  adopted  by  the  Albany 
Congress  was  quickly  vetoed  in  England,  and 
fared  no  better  with  the  colonial  assemblies. 
The  king  and  his  advisers  saw  too  much 
liberty  in  it;  the  assemblies  did  not  see 
enough  liberty  in  it. 

This,  then,  was  the  situation.  The  French 
had  taken  formal  possession  of  the  Ohio  River 
and  had  built  forts  at  Venango,  at  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Ohio  and  Monongahela  rivers,  and 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Cherokee  River.  Great 
Britain  claimed  all  the  country  from  the  Alle- 
ghany  Mountains  to  the  Ohio  and  down  the 
same  and  on  both  sides  of  it  to  the  Mississippi, 
and  based  her  title  upon  the  Iroquois  con- 
quest of  those  lands.  A  diplomatic  memorial 
of  the  king's  ministers1  observes  that  "  the 
court  of  Great  Britain  cannot  agree  to  France 
having  the  least  title  to  the  River  Ohio  and 

1  Sparks,  Works  of  Franklin,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  328-330. 
17 


258    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

the  territory  in  question."  Yet  with  all  the 
pressing  necessity  for  united  action  and  with 
the  strong  feeling  on  both  sides  of  the  water 
that  there  ought  to  be  some  formal  union  of 
the  colonies,  it  was,  as  we  have  seen,  impos- 
sible to  agree  upon  a  plan.  When  the  king 
and  his  ministers  prepared  their  scheme  and 
sent  it  over  here  it  was  not  at  all  acceptable  to 
the  colonies. 

Now  why  this  impossibility  of  agreement? 
It  was,  I  think,  because  of  a  hopeless  differ- 
ence in  conditions  and  in  the  point  of  view. 
Great  Britain  had  her  Constitution  and  her 
traditions,  and  everything  must  be  shaped 
in  accordance  with  these.  The  American 
colonist  had  come  here  because  he  was  not 
altogether  satisfied  with  the  traditions  and 
methods  of  the  Old  World,  whether  political 
or  ecclesiastical.  His  desire  was  for  a  freer 
and  more  unhampered  experiment  in  govern- 
ment. Furthermore  a  change  seemed  to  have 
come  over  the  spirit  of  the  English  govern- 
ment. Franklin  narrates  a  conversation  had 
with  Lord  Granville  in  1757,  in  which  that 
minister  had  insisted  that  the  king  was  the 


CORRELATIONS  259 

legislator  for  the  colonies,  and  says  concern- 
ing it :  "I  recollected  that  about  twenty  years 
before  a  clause  in  a  bill  brought  into  Parlia- 
ment by  the  ministry  had  proposed  to  make 
the  king's  instructions  laws  in  the  colonies; 
but  the  clause  was  thrown  out  by  the  Com- 
mons, for  which  we  adored  them  as  our  friends 
and  friends  of  liberty,  till  by  their  conduct 
towards  us  in  1765  it  seemed  that  they  had 
refused  that  point  of  sovereignty  to  the  king 
only  that  they  might  reserve  it  for  them- 
selves."1 So,  too,  the  American  colonist 
had  been  educated  by  his  experience  in  co- 
lonial charters  and  in  the  administration  of 
his  own  affairs.  He  was  breathing  that  free 
forest  air  which  had  inspired  the  federation  of 
the  Five  Nations.  We  hear  a  great  deal  about 
the  genesis  of  our  government  and  the  sources 
of  the  Constitution.  One  writer  will  have  it 
that  our  political  institutions  are  almost  en- 
tirely of  Dutch  descent;  another  traces  them 
directly  from  England;  while  a  third  insists 
that  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  was  alone 
the  model.  Benjamin  Franklin,  whose  opin- 
1  Bigelow's  Life  of  Franklin,  vol.  i.,  p.  367. 


260    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

ion  upon  this  subject  is  perhaps  of  as  much 
value  as  that  of  the  writers  of  to-day,  seems 
not  to  have  shared  in  any  of  these  judg- 
ments. During  the  proceedings  of  the  Federal 
Convention  he  said :  "  We  indeed  seem  to  feel 
our  own  want  of  political  wisdom,  since  we 
have  been  running  about  in  search  of  it.  We 
have  gone  back  to  ancient  history  for  models 
of  government  and  examined  the  different 
forms  of  those  republics  which,  having  been 
formed  with  seeds  of  their  own  dissolution, 
now  no  longer  exist.  And  we  have  viewed 
modern  States  all  round  Europe,  but  find  none 
of  their  constitutions  suitable  to  our  circum- 
stances."1 It  is  easy  to  make  out  a  case  by  a 
judicious  selection  and  rejection  of  evidence, 
but  if  one  wished  to  insist  upon  a  given  model, 
perhaps  it  might  be  quite  as  fair  to  point 
to  the  Iroquois  League.  Certainly  our  con- 
federation followed  pretty  closely  after  that 
piece  of  forest  statesmanship,  and  we  hardly 
improved  upon  what  we  copied,  if  we  did 
copy  it. 

1  Journal  of  the  Federal  Convention  kept  by  James  Madi- 
son, reprint  from  ed.  1840,  Chicago,  1893,  p.  259. 


CORRELATIONS  261 

Why,  it  may  be  asked,  this  stress  upon  the 
Iroquois  people  and  their  league  and  upon  the 
Albany  congress  of  1754  in  a  very  general  dis- 
cussion of  America  in  its  relation  to  the  great 
epochs  of  history?  Because  they  not  only 
have  a  certain  inherent  interest  of  their  own, 
but  in  addition  to  this,  because,  as  it  seems 
to  me,  they  furnish  a  typical  instance  of  the 
world  relations  of  American  history  and  of  the 
possibilities  still  awaiting  a  proper  study  of 
the  philosophy  of  history. 

As  to  the  first  point,  the  world  relations  of 
American  History,  the  aptness  of  the  example 
seems  apparent.  The  Seven  Years'  War  not 
only  decided  the  fate  of  this  continent,  but  it 
decided  the  fate  of  a  large  part  of  the  world. 
By  her  success  in  this  struggle  England  be- 
came the  mistress  of  the  seas  and  was  enabled 
to  start  in  upon  that  career  of  colonization 
which  has  affected  the  destinies  of  a  consider- 
able portion  of  mankind.  The  Five  Nations 
played  a  large  part  in  this  struggle.  Louis 
XIV.  in  his  haughty  pride  could  see  in  this 
splendid  Iroquois  race  nothing  but  material  for 
slaves.  By  his  orders  some  of  these  brave  war- 


262    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

riors,  whom  the  French  found  it  impossible  to 
overcome  on  a  fair  field  of  battle,  were  treach- 
erously captured  and,  having  been  sent  to 
France,  were  chained  to  the  galleys  of  that 
despot  who  declared  himself  the  State.  It  is  a 
splendid  testimony  to  the  magnanimity  and 
Christian  spirit  of  these  unchristian  savages 
that  they  forgave  the  missionary  who  was  the 
unconscious  tool  in  effecting  this  great  wrong, 
and,  knowing  that  he  was  innocent  of  wrong 
intent,  had  him  conveyed  to  a  place  of  safety 
lest  some  of  their  young  braves  might  slay  him. 
Yes,  these  people  of  the  Five  Nations  had 
great  qualities  and  they  reverenced  greatness. 
No  white  man  is  permitted  to  enter  the  Indian 
heaven,  but,  in  the  Iroquois  tradition,  just  out- 
side the  portals  of  that  region  of  bliss  is  a 
walled  enclosure  with  spacious  grounds  and  a 
stately  mansion.  It  is  the  eternal  abode  of 
Washington,  prepared  for  him  by  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  there  in  his  uniform  and  in  solitary 
dignity  and  felicity  he  is  seen  by  each  faithful 
Iroquois  who  enters  that  happy  haven.  Louis 
XIV.  by  treachery  could  make  galley  slaves  of 
a  few  Iroquois  warriors,  but  the  retribution  was 


CORRELATIONS  263 

swift  and  terrible.  France  lost  not  only  this 
continent,  but  she  was  humbled  by  her  enemies 
and  England  became  the  dominant  power  of 
Europe. 

Now  to  our  second  point,  viz.,  that  by  a 
study  of  this  Iroquois  people  we  may  gain  light 
upon  what  may  be  called  the  new  philosophy 
of  history.  The  new  philosophy  of  history 
is  sociological.  It  seeks  to  correlate  the 
results  attained  in  the  new  disciplines  and 
methods  of  thought.  Biology,  psychology,  and 
anthropology  are  all  involved  in  such  an 
attempt  to  construct  a  modern  philosophy  of 
history.  The  study  of  primitive  man  consti- 
tutes a  large  feature  of  anthropology,  and  in 
these  aborigines  of  America  we  have  a  splendid 
opportunity  right  at  our  own  doors  for  such  a 
study.1  We  can  watch  those  inherent  tendencies 
of  humanity  on  which  we  have  already  laid 
stress,  and  we  can  study  a  people  which,  like 
"  Little  Nell,"  seem  "  fresh  from  the  hand  of 
God."  2 

1  See  Appendix,  Note  XIII. 

2  "  It  is  in  the  natural  customs  of  all  peoples,  so  far  as  they 
embrace  the  normal  man,  and  even  of  those  decried  as  most 


264    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

But  for  a  new  philosophy  of  history  we  shall 
find  aid  in  other  directions  as  well  as  in  an- 
thropology. The  new  department  of  physiologi- 
cal-psychology is  fertile  with  suggestions.  A 
few  years  since,  the  doctors  were  experiment- 
ing with  a  hospital  patient  whose  avenues  of 
communication  with  the  outer  world  were  all 
closed  save  through  one  eye  which  still  re- 
mained sensitive  to  impressions.  There  was 
no  hearing,  no  taste,  no  feeling.  When  this 
one  eye  was  closed,  the  patient  would  sink 
into  a  deep  stupor  and  was  as  one  dead.  In 
other  words,  all  life  is  a  reaction  to  stimuli. 
Now  I  think  this  principle  applies  to  society, 
to  history,  and  it  seems  to  escape  some  of 
the  dangers  incident  to  biological  analogies. 
Physiological-psychology  deals  with  the  mind 
or  spirit  as  well  as  with  the  body,  and  it 
studies  the  relations  and  interactions  of  the 
same.  To  consider  society  simply  as  an  organ- 
ism may  be  misleading,  but  to  consider  it  as 

uncultured,  that  we  first  learn  the  truth  of  human  nature 
in  its  full  nobility  and  in  its  real  beauty."  —  "  The  Art  Work 
of  the  Future,"  Eichard  Wagner's  Prose  Works  (trans.),  vol.  i. 
p.  89. 


CORRELATIONS  265 

an  organism  infused  with  a  mind  or  spirit 
seems  to  be  rational.  And  is  it  not  true  that 
all  life,  taking  the  term  in  its  broadest  sense, 
and  including  the  life  of  society,  of  peoples,  of 
nations,  is  a  response,  a  reaction  to  stimuli  ? 
May  we  not  in  studying  history  and  watching 
the  bounds  of  the  progress  of  humanity  find  a 
scientific  and  helpful  method  hi  seeking  to  trace 
out  the  many  forces,  the  stimuli,  which  have 
evoked  the  reactions ;  and  thus  regarding  the 
life  of  humanity  may  we  not  see  new  meanings 
and  implications  ? 

The  study  of  American  history  is  a  fascina- 
tion and  a  delight.  There  is  a  charm,  as  well 
as  utility  in  taking  possession  of  the  spiritual 
goods  of  the  race.  The  unfolding  and  per- 
fecting of  our  natures  is  not  only  the  end  of 
education,  but  is  a  process  bringing  genuine 
pleasure.  The  record  of  the  past,  when  viewed 
intelligently  and  in  its  broader  relations,  brings 
to  us  much  of  these  immaterial  goods;  helps 
forward  the  development  of  our  capacities. 
This  is  true  of  all  real  study  of  history,  which, 
as  Mr.  Ritchie  has  well  remarked,  is  something 
more  than  the  mere  study  of  annals,  since 


266    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

these  are  not  yet  history,  but  only  the  material 
for  history.1 

But  in  the  study  of  American  history  I  think 
we  must  all  see  the  charm  and  the  utility  to  be 
peculiar,  and  this  is  so  because  America  stands 
at  a  place  where  all  experiences  converge, 
where  all  roads  meet.2  The  study  of  American 
history  is  the  study  of  modern  history.  Not 
an  impulse  of  the  modern  world  that  has  not 
entered  into  the  life  of  America ;  not  a  nation 
of  the  modern  world  that  has  not  contributed 
to  its  population. 

If  this  comparative  view,  this  world-view, 
does  indeed  make  the  study  of  American  history 
yield  the  richest  contributions  to  the  equipment 
of  the  individual,  then  every  child  is  entitled  to 
have  this  view  brought  before  him.  It  is  his 
right  to  take  possession  of  these  spiritual  goods. 
And  so  I  plead  for  a  change  in  the  methods  of 
our  schools  in  this  regard.  The  objection,  of 
course,  is  that  such  a  general  view  will  only 
leave  hazy  impressions,  and  that  a  minute  and 

1  Darwiu  and  Hegel,  by  David  G.  Ritchie,  p.  51. 

2  See  Ferguson,  The  Affirmative  Intellect,  pp.  91,  92. 


CORRELATIONS  267 

critical  study  of  sources  is  a  better  method  of 
procedure.  Now  it  seems  to  me  that  clear-cut 
and  well-defined  presentations  can  be  made  in 
connection  with  this  wider  view.  Something 
of  the  bound  in  art,  something  of  the  glories  of 
the  Renaissance  can  surely  be  brought  before 
the  child  who  is  studying  the  discovery  of 
America.  Some  very  definite  facts  with  regard 
to  the  artists  of  that  period  and  their  works 
can  be  presented.  So  in  the  study  of  the 
settlement  of  America  there  can  be  a  clear 
statement  of  the  literary  impulse  in  this  time 
of  the  Christian  Renaissance  and  an  acquaint- 
ance can  be  made  with  some  of  the  writers  of 
that  period  and  with  their  works.  These  are 
illustrations  of  the  simplest  sort  to  show  that 
there  may  be  nothing  vague  or  mysterious  in 
such  a  plan  of  teaching.  One  thing  it  doubt- 
less does  require,  and  that  is  properly  prepared 
teachers,  but,  if  the  system  were  adopted,  the 
training  would  follow  of  necessity,  since  the 
teachers  would  be  compelled  to  fit  themselves 
for  the  existing  conditions,  and  the  normal 
schools  would  shape  their  work  accordingly. 
,  Now  as  to  the  objection  that  the  study  of 


sources  is  the  only  proper  method,  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  one  method  need  not  conflict  with 
the  other,  and  that  both  are  proper  methods. 
It  is  to  be  remembered,  however,  that  the 
ordinary  child  leaves  school  at  an  early  age, 
and  that  very  few  children  will  ever  obtain  any 
critical  knowledge  of  history.  It  is  possible, 
however,  I  believe,  to  put  all  the  children  in 
our  schools  in  touch  with  the  great  impulses 
that  have  moulded  the  race ;  it  is  possible,  I 
think,  that  they  shall  all  catch  the  life  and  the 
color  of  those  great  epochs  of  modern  history 
which  were  also  the  epochs  of  American  his- 
tory. By  such  a  method  the  child  will  come  to 
feel  something  of  the  impulse  of  the  great 
bounds  of  mankind.  Something  of  the  glory 
of  the  epoch  will  remain  as  an  abiding  posses- 
sion. It  is  giving  the  individual  the  benefit  of 
the  mighty  waves  of  stimuli  which  at  certain 
periods  have  swept  over  the  world.  The  re- 
actions cannot  fail  to  be  vital  and  important. 
In  the  education,  whether  of  the  child  or 
of  the  adult,  there  is  no  excuse  for  not  seek- 
ing the  best.  The  human  soul  is  too  infi- 
nitely precious  to  trifle  with  its  education, 


CORRELATIONS  269 

and  to  give  anything  less  than  the  best  is  a 
crime. 

"We  have  not  yet,"  says  Mr.  Henderson, 
"conceived  of  human  life  as  a  moral  and 
aesthetic  revelation  of  the  universe,  nor  of 
education  as  a  practical  process  of  enter- 
ing into  this  tremendous  possession."1  The 
proper  object  of  the  reading  and  the  study  of 
history  is  to  bring  this  revelation  clearly  before 
the  mind  and  spirit  of  the  individual.  Any 
local  or  partial  view  which  leaves  out  of  sight 
the  supreme  end  of  flashing  forth  the  vision  of 
truth  and  of  beauty  is  inexcusably  wrong.  It 
takes  away  from  the  study  of  history  its  true 
meaning,  its  glory  and  its  power.  To  watch 
the  development  of  the  individual  in  that  time 
of  the  Renaissance  when,  as  Burkhardt  puts 
it,  all  Italy  began  to  swarm  with  personality ; 
to  study  the  growth  of  modern  liberty ;  to  see 
the  process  by  which  mankind  has  worked  out 
his  social  destiny  and  constructed  the  modern 
systems  of  government ;  to  note  the  progress 
in  art,  science  and  philosophy ;  to  behold  the 
upward  march  ot  mankind  in  these  later  cen- 

1  Henderson,  Education  and  the  Larger  Life,  p.  50. 


270    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

turies,  —  all  this  is  of  vital  importance.  In 
the  study  of  the  history  of  our  own  land  we 
can  by  taking  the  wider  view  see  all  these 
things,  catch  their  inspiration,  and  learn  their 
lessons.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  we  urge  the 
study  of  America  in  its  Relation  to  the  G-reat 
Epochs  of  History. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX 

NOTE  I. 

"ANOTHER  fact  which  was  highly  favorable  to  this 
great  work  of  the  reformer  is  thus  briefly  and  lumi- 
nously stated  by  Mr.  Baber:  'Englishmen  were  now 
beginning  to  be  more  attentive  to  their  own  tongue. 
Before  the  conquest,  the  popular  language  had  been 
invaded  by  the  Normannic.  After  that  event,  as 
the  Norman  lords  increased  in  power,  their  tongue 
became  the  language  of  polished  society,  of  the 
laws,  and  of  the  pleadings  in  the  courts  of  judicature. 
Latin  was  used  for  the  services  of  the  church,  and  the 
general  purpose  of  literature ;  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  re- 
mained chiefly  confined  to  the  commonalty.  In  the 
thirteenth  century,  the  popular  language  began  in  some 
degree  to  recover  its  rank  ;  the  nobles,  and  the  higher 
classes  of  society,  did  not,  as  heretofore,  disdain  to  resort 
to  it  as  a  colloquial  tongue  ;  and  original  works  as  well 
as  translations  from  the  productions  of  authors  who  had 
written  in  French,  now  began  to  appear  in  an  English 
dress.  But  at  this  period,  it  must  be  allowed,  our  lan- 
guage was  rough  and  unpolished,  and  those  who  wrote  in 
it  were  authors  who  possessed  few  ideas  of  taste  or  ele- 
gance. In  proportion,  however,  as  the  tyrannical  power  of 
the  barons  declined,  and  as  the  paths  which  led  to  honor, 
and  distinction  became  more  open  to  commoners,  the 
18 


274    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

English  tongue,  in  the  fourteenth  century,  became  more 
general,  and  its  improvements  were  considerable.  The 
accessions  it  had  received,  and  the  changes  it  had  ex- 
perienced within  the  last  three  centuries,  were  at  this 
period  numerous  and  striking ;  for  our  language,  as  it 
was  now  spoken  by  the  nobles  and  the  learned,  was  con- 
siderably enriched  by  words  borrowed  from  the  Roman 
and  French  dialects,  and  much  altered  in  its  pronuncia- 
tion, its  form,  and  its  terminations.  Among  the  lower 
orders  of  the  people,  however,  upon  whom  refinement 
makes  but  slow  advances,  English,  with  respect  to  its 
great  mass,  preserved  more  of  its  Saxon  origin  and  phra- 
seology. Such  was  the  state  of  the  vernacular  tongue 
at  the  time  in  which  Wicliff  wrote.  The  reformer  quickly 
discerned  the  advantage  which  might  be  derived  from 
this  propitious  circumstance.'  " 

Knighton  Coll.  2644.  Memoirs  of  Wicliff,  pp.  36,  37. 
As  cited  in  Life  and  Opinions  of  John  de  Wycliffe, 
D.D.,  by  Robert  Vaughan  (London,  1831)  vol.  ii., 
pp.  46,  47. 

NOTE  II. 

"  Thus  there  was  a  star  resembling  a  sword  which 
stood  over  the  city,  and  a  comet  that  continued  a  whole 
year." 

Josephus,  Wars  of  the  Jews,  Book  VI.,  chap.  v. 

Also  it  is  related  : 

"For  before  sun-setting,  chariots,  and  troops  of  sol- 
diers in  their  armour,  were  seen  running  about  among  the 
clouds,  and  surrounding  of  cities." 

Ibid. 


APPENDIX  275 

This  was  the  time  when  that  strange  Jewish  hus- 
bandman was  going  about  the  lanes  of  the  city  cry- 
ing :  "  "Woe,  woe  to  Jerusalem  ! " 


NOTE  III. 

"  The  Thirty  Years'  War,  which  raged  from  1618  to 
1648,  made  a  gap  in  her  (Germany's)  national  develop- 
ment, such  as  we  find  nowhere  else  in  history.  It  threw 
ber  back  full  two  hundred  years,  materially  and  intellec- 
tually, and  extinguished  all  remembrance  of  the  past.  .  . 

"  Germany  came  out  of  the  Thirty  Years'  War  almost 
expiring.  It  was  as  if  a  deadly  illness  had  wiped  out  the 
memory  of  the  nation  in  its  cruel  delirium.  All  the 
national  forces,  material  as  well  as  intellectual  and  moral, 
were  destroyed  when  peace  was  concluded  in  1648.  .  .  . 

''And  what  it  (the  war)  destroyed  in  this  way  was 
not  a  barbarous  country  ;  it  was  an  old  civilization. 
Hundreds  of  flourishing  cities  were  reduced  to  ashes; 
there  were  towns  of  18,000  inhabitants  which  counted 
but  324  at  the  peace;  ground  which  had  been  tilled 
and  ploughed  for  ten  centuries  had  become  a  wilder- 
ness ;  thousands  of  villages  had  disappeared.  Trees 
grew  in  the  abandoned  houses.  At  Wiesbaden  the  mar- 
ket had  grown  into  a  brushwood  full  of  deer.  The  whole 
Palatinate  had  but  200  freeholders  ;  Wiirtemberg  had  but 
48,000  inhabitants  at  the  end  of  the  war,  instead  of  the 
400,000  which  it  had  mustered  at  the  beginning.  We  are 
told  that  a  messenger  going  from  Dresden  to  Berlin 
through  a  once  flourishing  country,  walked  thirty  miles 
without  finding  a  house  to  rest  in.  The  war  had  de- 


276    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

voured,  on  an  average,  three  quarters  of  the  population, 
two  thirds  of  the  houses,  nine  tenths  of  the  cattle  of  all 
sorts;  nearly  three  quarters  of  the  soil  had  been  turned 
into  heath.  Commerce  and  industry  were  as  utterly 
destroyed  as  agriculture  ;  the  mighty  Hanseatic  League 
was  dissolved;  the  savings  of  the  nation  were  entirely 
spent.  I  am  therefore  certainly  not  far  from  the  truth 
when  I  say  that  Germany  was  thrown  back  two  hundred 
years  as  compared  with  Holland,  France,  and  England. 
Even  in  so  prolific  a  nation  a  century  did  not  suffice  to 
fill  up  the  gaps  in  the  population,  nor  could  two  centuries 
restore  the  lost  capital.  It  is  a  proved  fact,  indeed,  that 
Germany  recovered  only  towards  1850  the  actual  amount 
of  capital  and  the  material  well-being  with  which  she  had 
entered  the  great  war  in  1618.  Thus,  so  far  as  the  num- 
ber of  homesteads,  the  heads  of  cattle,  the  returns  of  crops 
can  be  statistically  ascertained,  the  amount  in  1850  was 
not  relatively  but  absolutely  the  same  as  in  1618  ;  in 
some  respects  even  inferior." 

German  Thought  from  the   Seven  Years'  War  to 

Goethe's  Death,  by  Karl  Hillebrand,  pp.  40-42. 

(Henry  Holt,  1880.) 

Hillebrand  then  goes  on  in  several  pages  to  speak 
of  the  social,  the  moral,  the  political,  the  intellectual 
deterioration  resulting  frorn  the  Thirty  Years'  War. 


IV. 

"Yet,  if  he  was  not  beholden  to  Elizabeth  for  his 
thought  of  the  design,  it  is,  however,  certain  that  this 
great  queen  had  herself  conceived  it  long  before,  as  a 


APPENDIX  277 

means  to  revenge  Europe  for  the  attempts  of  its  common 
enemy.  The  troubles  in  which  all  the  following  years 
were  engaged,  the  war  which  succeeded  in  1595,  and  that 
against  Savoy  after  the  peace  of  Vervins,  forced  Henry 
into  difficulties  which  obliged  him  to  lay  aside  all  thoughts 
of  other  affairs  ;  and  it  was  not  till  after  his  marriage,  and 
the  firm  re-establishment  of  peace,  that  he  renewed  his 
thoughts  upon  his  first  design,  to  execute  which  appeared 
then  more  impossible,  or  at  least  more  improbable,  than 
ever.  He  nevertheless  communicated  it  by  letters  to 
Elizabeth  and  this  was  what  inspired  them  with  so  strong 
an  inclination  to  confer  together  in  1601,  when  this  prin- 
cess came  to  Dover,  and  Henry  to  Calais." 

Memoirs  of  Sully,  vol.  iv.,  p.  231. 

"  The  present  Duke  of  Sully  is  possessed  of  the  original 
of  an  excellent  letter  of  Henry  the  Great,  supposed  to 
have  been  written  by  him  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  though 
this  princess  is  not  named,  either  in  the  body  of  the 
letter,  or  in  the  superscription,  which  is  in  these  words : 
'To  her  who  merits  immortal  praise.'  The  terms  in 
which  Henry  herein  speaks  of  a  certain  political  project, 
which  he  calls  '  The  most  excellent  and  rare  enterprise 
that  ever  the  human  mind  conceived — a  thought  rather 
divine  than  human,'  the  praises  which  he  bestows  upon 
'this  discourse  so  well  connected  and  demonstrative  of 
what  would  be  necessary  for  the  government  of  empires 
and  kingdoms,'  —  on  those  '  conceptions  and  resolutions 
from  which  nothing  less  may  be  hoped  than  most  remark- 
able issues  both  of  honour  and  glory '  —  all  these  passages 
can  relate  to  none  but  Elizabeth,  nor  mean  any  other 
than  the  great  design  in  question,  concerning  which  it 


278    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

evidently  appears  from  hence,  that  the  Queen  of  England 
had  by  letters  disclosed  her  thoughts  to  Henry.  The 
letter  from  which  these  extracts  are  taken  is  dated  from 
Paris,  the  llth  of  July,  but  without  the  date  of  the 
year." 

Lettres  d' Henri  le  Grand,  —  note  to  Memoirs  of 
Sully,  vol.  iv.,  p.  230. 

"  She  then  drew  me  aside,  and  conversed  with  me  for  a 
long  time  on  the  greater  part  of  the  events  which  had 
happened  since  the  peace  of  Vervins  (too  long  to  be 
repeated  here),  and  concluded  with  asking  if  her  good 
brother  the  King's  affairs  were  now  in  a  better  state  than 
in  1598,  and  if  he  were  in  a  condition  to  begin,  in  good 
earnest,  the  great  design  which  she  had  proposed  from 
that  time  ? " 

Memoirs  of  Sully,  vol.  ii.,  p.  233. 


NOTE  V. 

It  is  to  be  remembered  that  the  philosophy  of 
Hegel  was  dominant  at  this  period.  A  recent 
writer  has  said : 

"  Much  as  Hegel  sought  to  remain  at  peace  with  the 
powers  that  were,  his  system  was,  nevertheless,  of  a  sort 
which  must  necessarily  break  the  way  to  a  freer  politi- 
cal development.  This  was  especially  shown  in  the 
forties,  &c." 

Mliller,  Political  History  of  Recent  Times,  p.  23. 


APPENDIX  279 


NOTE  VI. 

"  Voltaire  wrote  to  Mme.  Necker,  2d  Jany.  1777, 
'  Everything  proves  that  the  English,  are  bolder  and 
more  philosophical  than  we  are.' 

"  Diderot  in  one  of  his  early  works  represents  England 
as  '  the  country  of  philosophers,  systematisers  and  men  of 
inquiring  mind.'  Buffon  is  never  weary  of  expressing  his 
admiration  for  this  sensible  and  profoundly  thoughtful 
nation,  and  even  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  Fenelon,  Vol- 
taire and  Jean-Jacques  would  not  make  a  furrow  one 
line  in  depth  on  a  head  so  massive  with  thought  as  that 
of  Bacon,  that  of  Newton,  or  —  happily  for  us  —  that  of 
Montesquieu." 

Jos.  Texte,  J.  J.  Rousseau  and  the  Cosmopolitan 
Spirit  in  Literature,  p.  97. 


NOTE  VII. 

"A  modern  French  writer,  Beaulieu,  quoted  by  Lave- 
leye,  has  said  that  the  French  Revolution  in  its  aspira- 
tions was  '  the  unconscious  testamentary  executor  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah.'  There  is  among  Hebrew  prophets  and 
among  French  revolutionary  enthusiasts  the  same  con- 
fident expectation  of  a  reign  of  peace  and  righteousness, 
the  same  fierce  denunciation  of  vengeance  on  the  oppres- 
sors of  the  poor  and  the  selfish  luxury  of  the  rich  ;  nay, 
even  the  same  rejection  of  traditional  ceremonial  religion 
in  favour  of  an  ethical  Deism,  and  the  same  excusable 
patriotic  belief  that  their  own  nation  was  the  chosen 


280    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

people,   through  whom   the   redemption  of  the  whole 
world  was  to  come." 

Ritchie  —  Studies  in  P.  and  S.  Ethics,  p.  122. 

"  If  reformers  nowadays  do  not  feel  the  same  hostility 
to  monarchy  which  their  predecessors  felt  in  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  it  not  just  because  the 
French  Revolution  and  its  republican  ideal  —  that  is,  its 
ideal  that  every  true  constitution  must  be  a  '  common- 
wealth '  —  have  done  so  much  to  ameliorate  the  character 
of  monarchy  ?  " 

Ibid.  p.  123. 

"  No  citizen  broken  to  any  established  rule  or  system 
but  a  child  of  genius,  who  had  been  left  outside  of  the 
gates  at  birth ;  to  be  brought  up  by  Nature :  spoiled  by 
her  lessons  to  some  extent  for  civilized  life  :  but  taught  by 
her,  and  compelled  by  her  to  teach  others,  many  things, 
beautiful  and  sorrowful,  terrible  and  sublime,  that  civil- 
ized society  had  forgotten  at  that  time,  to  its  sore  grief 
and  peril." 

Studies  in  France  of  Rousseau  and  Voltaire,  by  Fred- 
erika  Macdonald,  p.  44. 

NOTE  VIII. 

From  "  An  Essay  on  Percy  Bysshe  Shelley "  by 
Robert  Browning,  page  13. 

This  was  written  as  an  Introductory  Essay  to  a 
volume  of  letters  of  Shelley  published  in  1852. 
These  letters  were  subsequently  discovered  to  be 
spurious  and  withdrawn  by  the  publisher.  This 


APPENDIX  281 

essay  was  subsequently  (in  1888)  published  for  the 
Shelley  Society.  Its  editor,  Mr.  W.  Tyas  Harden 
says  in  his  Introduction : 

"  The  circumstances  under  which  the  following  '  Essay' 
was  first  published  in  1852  were  so  far  unfortunate  as 
that  a  speedy  limit  was  put  to  its  circulation  by  the  dis- 
covery that  the  letters  which  it  ushered  into  the  world 
were  a  literary  fraud.  But  if  ever  the  doing  of  evil  is  to 
be  excused  because  of  some  resultant  good,  here  is  a  case 
which  is  eminently  entitled  to  such  consideration,  for  we 
may  fairly  conclude,  and  not  without  a  touch  of  humour 
if  not  also  without  a  tremor  of  anxiety,  that  if  the  fraud 
had  not  been  perpetrated  the  essay  might  never  have 
been  penned.  Equally  fortunate  was  the  fact  that  some 
few  copies  escaped  the  control  and  the  recall  of  the  pub- 
lisher, which,  however,  were  so  few  that  the  book  is  now 
one  of  those  opima  spolia  that  collectors  covet  and  dealers 
delight  in." 

NOTE  IX. 

"  In  the  course  of  events  New  York  owes  its  present 
northern  boundary  to  the  valor  of  the  Five  Nations.  But 
for  them  Canada  would  have  embraced  the  basin  of  the 
St.  Lawrence." 

Bancroft,  vol.  i.,  p.  590.     (D.  Appleton  &  Co.  1883.) 

This  refers  to  1688.  The  French  had  made  an 
incursion  into  Seneca  territory  and  had  built  a  fort  on 
the  southern  side  of  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara.  The 
position  was  rescued  by  the  valor  of  the  Five  Nations. 


282    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 


NOTE  X. 

The  Importance  of  Gaining  and  Preserving  the 
Friendship  of  the  Indians  to  the  British  Interest 
Considered  (by  Archibald  Kennedy).  New  York. 
Printed  and  sold  by  James  Parker,  at  the  New 
Printing  Office,  in  Beaver  Street,  1751. 

"  It  is  agreed,  I  think,  on  all  Hands,  that  the  gaining  and 
preserving  the  Friendship  of  the  Indians  to  the  British 
Interest,  is  of  no  small  importance  to  the  Trade  of  Great 
Britain,  as  well  as  to  the  Peace  and  Prosperity  of  these 
Colonies ;  and  as  I  have  not  heard  of  any  Body  that  has, 
as  yet,  attempted  to  put  this  Matter  in  a  proper  Light, 
I  shall,  with  great  submission,  humbly  offer  my  Senti- 
ments, in  Hopes  they  may  induce  some  abler  Hand  to 
undertake  the  Task. 

"When  the  first  ship  arrived  here  from  Europe,  the 
Indians,  it  is  said,  were  so  well  pleased,  that  they  would 
have  her  tied  to  a  Tree,  in  order  the  better  to  secure  her  ; 
but  as  Cables  were  subject  to  rot,  the}'  would  have  it 
an  Iron  Chain,  and  this  to  be  continued  into  the  Indian 
Countries,  that  they  might  be  the  better  able  to  Keep  their 
Part  of  it  clear  from  Rust,  as  we  were  to  Keep  our  Part. 
If  the  Indians  were  in  Distress  or  Want,  the  call  was,  as  it 
is  at  this  Day,  to  come  and  make  clean,  or  renew  the 
Covenant  Chain  ;  and  the  Christians  on  their  Part,  were 
to  do  the  like  ;  And  accordingly  we  have  assisted  them  in 
their  Wars  and  Wants,  and  they  have  assisted  us  in  our 
Wars,  and  we  have  their  Furs. 

"  This  is  the  original  Contract  and  Treaty  of  Commerce, 


APPENDIX  283 

with  the  Five  Nations,  and  thus  Things  went  on  tolerably 
well  for  some  years,  till  the  due  Execution  of  this  Treaty 
was  committed  to  the  Care  of  a  Number  of  Commissioners, 
mostly  Anglo-Dutch  Traders  in  Indian  Goods  ;  who, 
together  with  a  Tribe  of  Harpies  or  Handlers,  their  Re- 
lations, and  Under-strappers,  have  so  abused,  defrauded 
and  deceived  those  poor,  innocent,  well-meaning  People, 
that  this  Treaty  has  well-nigh  executed  itself  ;  so  that  at 
present  we  have  very  few  Indians  left  that  are  sincerely 
in  our  Interest,  or  that  can  be  depended  upon.  The 
fatal  Consequences  of  this  Management  were  severely 
felt  in  many  Instances  last  War,  particularly  in  the  Case 
of  Saraghtoga,  Schenectady,  &c.,  which  could  not  possibly 
have  happened  had  our  Indians  been  sincerely  our  Friends. 
And  what  fatal  Consequences  must  attend  a  continued 
Neglect  of  Indian  Affairs ;  more  especially  as  the  French, 
our  natural  Enemies  and  Competitors  in  every  Corner  of 
the  World  where  we  have  a  Concern,  are  indefatigable  in 
cultivating  the  Friendship  of  their  own  Indians  and  by  all 
Means  and  Arts  in  their  Power  per  fas  et  nefas,  endeavour- 
ing to  reduce  those  in  the  British  Interest ;  is  apparent  to 
the  meanest  Capacity.  Murders  and  Desolation,  upon  the 
first  Breach,  is  one  certain  Consequence;  and  I  wish  I 
could  think  this  was  all. 

"  What  to  me  is  most  surprising,  that  tho'  there  is 
hardly  a  Colony  upon  the  Continent,  but  what  is  a  Match 
for  all  Canada ;  yet,  by  a  proper  Management  of  their 
Indians,  they  Keep  us  all,  both  in  Time  of  Peace  and  War, 
in  a  constant  Dread  and  Terror.  As  the  British  Parliament 
seems  at  this  Time  disposed  to  take  these  Colonies  under 
Consideration,  it  is  the  Duty,  I  conceive,  of  every  Member 
of  the  Community  to  throw  in  such  Hints  as  he  conceives 


284    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

may  be  of  Use  upon  this  Occasion,  and  it  is  to  be  hop'd 
there  are  those  amongst  us  of  Capacity,  Leisure,  and 
publick  Spirit  sufficient  to  model  them  into  a  proper  Shape, 
for  the  Perusal  of  that  august  Assembly.  An  honest 
Detail  of  Facts,  and  a  fair  View  of  the  Importance  of  the 
Subject,  is  all  that  I  shall  endeavour  at,  at  present.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  but  that  the  Government  [at  Home 
would  assist  us  effectually,  were  our  Situation  and  Cir- 
cumstances but  perfectly  known  to  them,  and  proper 
Methods  proposed ;  because  it  is  really  their  Interest. 

"  I  do  not  mean  here  to  put  the  Crown  and  the  People 
of  England  to  any  great  Expence  about  us,  further  than 
that  of  one  single  officer,  as  Super-intendant  of  the  whole, 
who  may  have  no  Connection  either  with  the  Trade  or 
People  of  the  Country ;  and  some  Artillery.  The  Crown 
already  has  expended  many  and  great  sums  to  make  us 
what  we  are ;  and  the  People  of  England  are  already 
Sufficiently  loaded  with  Taxes  ;  whereas  we  hardly  know 
what  they  mean.  The  Colonies  therefore,  jointly,  it  is  to 
be  hop'd,  will  willingly  contribute  towards  whatever 
Expence  may  attend  a  proper  Regulation  of  our  Trade 
and  Frontiers ;  if  not  willingly,  let  us  not  dispair  but 
that  a  British  Parliament  will  oblige  them.  It  is  high 
time  we  should  look  to  our  own  Security,  &  most  un- 
natural to  expect,  that  we  should  hang  forever  upon  the 
Breast  of  our  Mother-Country.  We  are  sufficiently  able, 
and  must  be  made,  some  of  us  I  doubt,  at  least,  willing. 
Whatever  Pretences  may  be  made,  it  is  absolutely  true, 
that  the  Preservation  of  the  whole  Continent  depends  upon 
a  proper  Regulation  of  the  Six  Nations ;  and  the  Security 
of  the  Frontiers  of  New-York,  both  to  the  Northward  and 
Southward.  I  therefore,  with  great  Submission,  propose, 


APPENDIX  285 

"  That  a  good  strong  Fort  be  built  at  the  Wood-Creek,  or 
near  it ;  it  ought  to  be  a  regular  Fortification  ;  because  it 
is  not  impossible  to  bring  great  guns  against  it,  from 
Crown  Point,  from  whence  they  pour  in  their  Parties 
upon  us,  in  Time  of  War.  Here  let  there  be  a  Magazine 
of  all  Kinds  of  warlike  Stores,  both  offensive  and  defensive, 
with  Snow-Shoes,  small  Hatchets,  &c.  This  will  in  a 
great  Measure  protect  the  Country ;  and  from  thence  a 
Descent  upon  Canada  may  be  very  practicable." 

The  author  then  goes  on  to  make  his  recommenda- 
tions for  other  fortifications,  for  a  good  strong  Church 
in  each  Township  with  Loop-Holes ;  that  something 
special  be  erected  in  Onondago  County,  "  where  their 
general  Councils  are  held,  and  the  Archives  of  the 
Six  Nations  are  kept ; "  that  there  be  proper  regulations 
for  trade  and  commerce ;  that  a  grand  yearly  fair  be 
established  in  the  Six  Nations,  &c. 

"  Most  certain  it  is,  as  I  have  before  observed,  that  if  ever 
New  York,  Albany,  and  Hudson's  River,  should  get  into 
other  Hands,  every  other  Colony  would  soon  follow  ;  and 
while  that  is  secure,  every  other  colony  is  secure.  .  .  . 

"  We  have  been  at  an  infinite  Expence  from  the  Begin- 
ning of  Times,  in  fortifying,  and  in  Presents  to  the  Indians, 
with  very  little  Assistance  from  our  neighboring  Colonies  ; 
a  Charge  which  we  are  hardly  able  to  bear,  &  most  un- 
reasonable, as  every  other  Colony  upon  the  Continent,  is 
in  some  Degree  or  other,  concerned  in  the  preservation  of 
the  Friendship  of  the  Indians,  &  the  security  of  our  Fron- 
tiers. This,  however,  has  been  but  paliating  Matters; 


286    AMERICA  IN  RELATION    TO   HISTORY 

&  doing  things  by  Halves  :  "Whenever  the  Colonies  think 
fit  to  join,  Indian  Aft'airs  will  wear  quite  another  Aspect. 
The  very  Name  of  such  a  Confederacy  will  greatly  en- 
courage our  Indians,  and  strike  Terror  into  the  French  ; 
and  be  a  Means  to  prevent  their  unsupportable  Incroach- 
ment,  which  they  daily  make  with  Impunity  and  Insult ; 
And  this  is  what  they  have  long  dreaded. 

"  A  long  series  of  Ill-usage  from  the  Traders,  has  given 
the  Indians  but  a  very  indifferent  Opinion  of  our  Morals  ; 
and  of  late,  from  the  several  abortive  Expeditions,  they 
begin,  I  doubt,  to  suspect  our  Courage ;  than  which, 
Nothing  can  more  affect  our  Interest  with  them.  They 
of  themselves  are  honest,  such  at  least  as  have  not  been 
debauched  by  the  Christians;  and  brave  in  their  Way  ; 
and  despise  Knaves  and  Cowards.  It  will,  therefore, 
require  some  Address,  and  not  a  little  Expence  to  recover 
our  Character. 

"  If  all  this  is  to  no  Purpose,  and  that  they  will  stand 
out ;  let  us  not,  I  say,  dispair,  but  that  upon  a  proper 
Representation  to  his  Majesty,  of  the  absolute  Impossi- 
bility, for  this  Colony  alone,  to  be  at  the  Expence  of 
putting  and  keeping  Indian  Affairs  upon  such  a  Footing  as 
they  really  ought  to  be,  his  Majesty,  from  his  wonted 
G-oodness,  will  undoubtedly,  not  only  assist  us  himself, 
but  oblige  the  other  Colonies  to  assist  us;  in  Proof  of 
which  paternal  care,  give  me  leave  here  to  insert  some  of 
his  Instructions  to  our  late  Governor  Montgomerie,  in  1727, 
upon  this  very  Point. 

"  Instruction  83. '  Whereas  it  has  been  thought  requisite, 
that  the  general  Security  of  our  Plantations  upon  the 
Continent  of  America,  be  provided  for  by  a  Contribution, 
in  Proportion  to  the  respective  Abilities  of  each  Plantation: 


APPENDIX  287 

And  "whereas  the  Northern  Frontiers  of  the  Province  of 
New- York,  being  most  exposed  to  an  Enemy;  do  require 
an  extraordinary  Charge,  for  the  erecting  and  maintaining 
of  Forts,  necessary  for  the  Defence  thereof.  And  whereas 
Orders  were  given  by  King  William  the  Third,  for  the 
advancing  £500  Sterling,  towards  a  Fort  in  the  Onondago 
Country,  and  of  ,£2000  Sterling,  towards  building  the 
Forts  at  Albany  and  Schenectady;  and  likewise  by 
Letters  under  his  Royal  Sign  Manual  directed  to  the  Gov- 
ernors of  diverse  of  the  Plantations,  to  recommend  to  the 
Councils  and  General  Assemblies  of  said  Plantations,  that 
they  .'respectively  furnish  a  proportionable  Sum  towards 
the  Fortifications  on  the  Northern  Frontiers  of  our  said 
Province  of  New- York,  viz : 

R.  Island  and  Providence  Planta- 
tions      .£150  0  0 

Connecticut 450  0  0 

Pennsylvania 350  0  0 

Maryland 650  0  0 

Virginia 900  0  0 

Making  together .£2500    0    0 

"  '  And  whereas  we  have  thought  fit  to  direct,  that  you 
also  signify  to  our  Province  of  Nova  Caesaria,  or  New  Jersey 
that  the  Sums  which  we  have  at  present  thought  fit  to  be 
contributed  by  them,  if  not  already  done,  in  Proportion  to 
what  has  been  directed,  to  be  supplied  by  our  other  Plan- 
tations, as  aforesaid,  are  £250  Sterling  for  the  Division  of 
East-New-Jersey,  and  £250  Sterling  for  the  Division  of 
West  New  Jersey :  You  are,  therefore  to  inform  yourself 
what  has  been  done  therein,  and  what  remains  further  to 


288    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

be  done,  and  to  send  an  Account  thereof  to  us,  and  to  our 
Commissioners  for  Trade  and  Plantations,  as  aforesaid. 

"  84th.  '  And  you  are  also,  in  our  Name,  instantly  to  rec- 
ommend to  our  Council,  and  the  General-Assembly  of 
our  said  Province  of  New- York,  that  they  exert  the 
utmost  of  their  Power,  in  providing,  without  Delay, 
what  further  shall  be  requisite  for  preparing,  erecting, 
and  maintaining  of  such  Forts  in  all  Parts  of  that  Prov- 
ince, as  you  and  they  shall  agree  upon. 

"  85th.  '  And  you  are  likewise  to  signify  to  our  said 
Council,  and  the  said  General- Assembly,  that  for  further 
Encouragement,  that  besides  the  Contributions  to  be 
made  towards  the  raising  and  maintaining  of  Forts  and 
Fortifications  on  that  Frontier,  as  above  mentioned ;  it  is 
our  Will  and  Pleasure,  in  Case  the  said  Frontier  be  at  any 
time  invaded  by  an  Enemy,  the  neighboring  Colonies  and 
Plantations  upon  the  Continent,  shall  make  good  in  Men, 
or  Money,  in  lieu  thereof,  their  Quota  of  Assistance, 
according  to  the  following  Repartitions,  viz. 

Men. 

Massachusetts  Bay 350 

New  Hampshire         40 

Rhode-Island         48 

Connecticut 120 

New-York         200 

East-Jersey 60 

West-New-Jersey 60 

Pennsylvania         80 

Maryland 160 

Virginia 240 

Making  together 1358 


APPENDIX  289 

" '  Pursuant  whereunto  you  are,  as  Occasion  requires,  to 
call  for  the  same  ;  and  in  case  of  any  Invasion  upon  the 
neighboring  Plantations,  you  are,  upon  Application  of  the 
respective  Governors  thereof,  to  be  aiding  and  assisting 
to  them,  in  the  best  Manner  you  can  ;  and  as  the  Con- 
dition of  your  Government  will  permit.' 

"  As  to  this  Instruction,  his  Majesty,  I  doubt,  has  not 
been  thoroughly  informed:  Because,  upon  an  Invasion,  con- 
sidering the  Distance  and  Dilatoriness  of  Assemblies,  the 
Mischief,  in  all  Probability,  would  be  over  before  we  could 
have  any  Assistance  :  I  should,  therefore,  think  it  advise- 
able  that  those  Proportions  be  immediately  detached  to  the 
Frontiers,  upon  the  first  News  of  a  War  ;  there  to  remain, 
and  to  be  recruited  during  the  War,  at  the  Expence  of 
the  said  Colonies.  I  shudder  to  think  what  would  have 
been  the  fate  of  Albany  had  not  those  Troops  designed 
against  Canada,  been  accidentally  there  ;  more  especially 
as  the  People  of  Albany,  at  that  Time,  were  afflicted  with 
an  epidemical  Distemper,  which  carried  off  great  Num- 
bers." 

The  writer  goes  on  to  give  advice  concerning  the 
quotas,  concerning  the  treatment  of  the  Indians, 
and  concerning  fortifications,  etc.,  and  concludes 
his  little  pamphlet  or  book  in  this  manner: 

"  If  these  Things,  or  something  of  this  Kind,  perhaps 
from  an  abler  Hand,  be  duly  considered  and  executed, ' 
during  the  Calm  of  a  Peace,  we  shall  have  little  to 
apprehend  from  an  Enemy.  What  I  most  apprehend  is, 
the  old  Proverb,  What 's  every  Body's  Business,  is  no 
Body's  Business.  But  let  those  Gentlemen,  I  mean  our 
19 


290    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

General-Assemblies,  with  whom  we  have  intrusted  the 
care  of  our  Lives  and  Liberties,  answer,  if  they  can, 
either  to  God  or  Man,  a  Neglect  of  their  Duty,  in  a 
Matter  of  so  much  Importance  to  themselves,  their  Fellow- 
Subjects  and  Posterity.  Dulce  est  pro  Patria  Mori,  is  an 
old  Roman  Maxim  ;  and  tho'  I  have  not  at  present  any 
Thoughts  of  dying  for  my  Country,  yet  I  have  a  real  Satis- 
faction in  imagining,  whether  in  Reality,  or  not,  I  cannot 
say,  That  I  have  pointed  out  some  Things,  which,  if 
observed,  may  prevent  a  good  deal  of  Blood-shed  &c., 
of  which  I  wash  my  Hands  clear,  and  leave  it  at  the 
Doors  of  those  whose  proper  business  it  is  to  look  out 
in  Time. 

"  The  Author  of  the  foregoing  Essay,  having  desired 
the  Printer  to  communicate  the  Manuscript  to  some  of 
the  most  judicious  of  his  Friends,  it  produced  the  follow- 
ing Letter  from  one  of  them  :  The  publishing  whereof, 
we  think  needs  no  other  Apology,  viz : 

'"PHILADELPHIA,  March  20,  1750,  1. 

"  '  DEAR  MR.  PARKER,  —  I  have,  as  you  desire,  read 
the.  Manuscript  you  sent  me ;  and  am  of  Opinion,  with  the 
publick-spirited  Author,  that  securing  the  Friendship  of 
the  Indians  is  of  the  greatest  Consequence  to  these  Colo- 
nies ;  and  that  the  surest  Means  of  doing  it,  are,  to  regulate 
the  Indian  Trade,  so  as  to  convince  them,  by  Experience, 
that  they  may  have  the  best  and  cheapest  Goods,  and  the 
fairest  Dealing  from  the  English  ;  and  to  unite  the  several 
Governments,  so  as  to  form  a  Strength  that  the  Indians 
may  depend  on  for  Protection,  in  Case  of  a  Rupture  with 
the  French  ;  or  apprehend  great  Danger  from,  if  they 
should  break  with  us. 


APPENDIX  291 

"'This  Union  of  the  Colonies,  however  necessary,  I  ap- 
prehend is  not  to  be  brought  about  by  the  Means  that 
have  hitherto  been  used  for  that  Purpose.  A  Governor  of 
one  Colony,  who  happens  from  some  Circumstances  in  his 
own  Government,  to  see  the  Necessity  of  such  an  Union, 
writes  his  Sentiments  of  the  Matter  to  the  other  Governors, 
and  desires  them  to  recommend  it  to  their  respective 
Assemblies .  They  accordingly  lay  the  Letters  before  these 
Assemblies,  and  perhaps  recommend  the  Proposal  in 
general  Words.  But  Governors  are  often  on  ill  Terms 
with  their  Assemblies,  and  seldom  are  the  Men  that  have 
the  most  Influence  among  them.  And  perhaps  some 
Governors,  tho'  they  openly  recommend  the  Scheme,  may 
privately  throw  cold  Water  on  it,  as  thinking  additional 
Publick  charges  will  make  their  People  less  able,  or  less  will- 
ing, to  give  to  them.  Or  perhaps  they  do  not  clearly  see  the 
Necessity  of  it,  and  therefore  do  not  very  earnestly  press 
the  Consideration  of  it :  And  no  one  being  present  that 
has  the  Affair  at  Heart,  to  back  it,  to  answer  and  remove 
Objections  &c.  'tis  easily  dropt,  and  nothing  is  done. 
Such  an  Union  is  certainly  necessary  to  us  all,  but  more 
immediately  so  to  your  Government.  Now,  if  you  were 
to  pick  out  half  a  Dozen  Men  of  good  Understanding  and 
Address,  and  furnish  them  with  a  reasonable  Scheme  and 
proper  Instructions,  and  send  them  in  the  Nature  of 
Ambassadors  to  the  other  Colonies,  where  they  might 
apply  particularly  to  all  the  leading  Men,  and  by  proper 
Management  get  them  to  engage  in  promoting  the  Scheme; 
where,  by  being  present,  they  would  have  the  Opportunity 
of  pressing  the  Affair  both  in  publick  and  private, 
obviating  Difficulties  as  they  arise,  answering  Objections 
as  soon  as  they  are  made,  before  they  spread  and  gather 


292    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Strength  in  the  Minds  of  the  People,  &c.  &c.  I  imagine 
such  an  Union  might  thereby  be  made  and  established  : 
For  reasonable  sensible  Men,  can  always  make  a  reason- 
able Scheme  appear  such  to  other  reasonable  Men,  if  they 
take  Pains,  and  have  Time  and  Opportunity  for  it ; 
unless  from  some  Circumstances  their  Honesty  and  good 
Intentions  are  suspected.  A  voluntary  Union  entered 
into  by  the  Colonies  themselves,  I  think,  would  be  pref- 
erable to  one  impos'd  by  Parliament ;  for  it  would  be 
perhaps  not  much  more  difficult  to  procure,  and  more 
easy  to  alter  and  improve  as  Circumstances  should  re- 
quire, and  Experience  direct.  It  would  be  a  very  strange 
Thing,  if  Six  Nations  of  ignorant  Savages  should  be  capa- 
ble of  forming  a  Scheme  for  such  an  Union,  and  be  able 
to  execute  it  in  such  a  Manner,  as  that  it  has  subsisted 
Ages,  and  appears  indissoluble ;  and  yet  that  a  like 
Union  should  be  impracticable  for  ten  or  a  Dozen  Eng- 
lish Colonies,  to  whom  it  is  more  necessary,  and  must  be 
more  advantageous;  and  who  cannot  be  supposed  to  want 
an  equal  Understanding  of  their  Interests. 

"'Were  there  a  general  Council  form'd  by  all  the 
Colonies,  and  a  general  Governor  appointed  by  the 
Crown  to  preside  in  that  Council,  or  in  some  Manner 
to  concur  with  and  confirm  their  Acts,  and  take  Care 
of  the  Execution  ;  every  Thing  relating  to  Indian  Affairs 
and  the  Defence  of  the  Colonies,  might  be  properly  put 
under  their  Management.  Each  Colony  should  be  repre- 
sented by  as  many  Members  as  it  pays  Sums  of  Hun- 
dred Pounds  into  the  common  Treasury  for  the  common 
Expence ;  which  Treasury  would  be  best  and  most  equitably 
supply'd,  by  an  equal  Excise  on  strong  Liquors  in  all  the 
Colonies,  the  Produce  never  to  be  applied  to  the  private 


APPENDIX  293 

Use  of  any  Colony,  but  to  the  general  Service.  Perhaps 
if  the  Council  were  to  meet  successively  at  the  Capitals  of 
the  Several  Colonies,  they  might  thereby  become  better 
acquainted  with  the  Circumstances,  Interests,  Strength  or 
Weakness,  &c.  of  all,  and  thence  be  able  to  judge  better 
of  Measures  propos'd  from  time  to  time;  At  least  it 
might  be  more  satisfactory  to  the  Colonies,  if  this  were 
propos'd  as  a  Part  of  the  Scheme ;  for  a  Preference  might 
create  Jealousy  and  Dislike. 

"  '  I  believe  the  Place  mention'd  is  a  very  suitable  one  to 
build  a  Fort  on.  In  Times  of  Peace,  Parties  of  the  Garri- 
sons of  all  Frontier  Forts  might  be  allowed  to  go  out  on 
Hunting  Expeditions,  with  or  without  Indians,  and  have 
the  Profit  to  themselves  of  the  Skins  they  get:  By  this 
Means  a  Number  of  Wood-Runners  would  be  form'd, 
well  acquainted  with  the  Country,  and  of  great  Use  in 
War  Time,  as  Guides  of  Parties  and  Scouts,  &c.  Every 
Indian  is  a  Hunter ;  as  their  Manner  of  making  War,  viz  : 
by  Skulking,  Surprizing  and  Killing  particular  Persons 
and  Families,  is  just  the  same  as  their  Manner  of  Hunt- 
ing, only  changing  the  Object,  Every  Indian  is  adisciplin'd 
Soldier.  Soldiers  of  this  Kind  are  always  wanted  in  the 
Colonies  in  an  Indian  War;  for  the  European  Military 
Discipline  is  of  little  Use  in  these  Woods. ' " 


NOTE  XI. 
Major  Washington  to  Governor  Hamilton. 

HONOURABLE  SIR,  —  It  is  with  the  greatest  concern  I 
acquaint  you,  that  Mr  Ward  Ensign  in  Captn  Trent's 
corup*  was  compelled  to  surrender  his  small  Fort  in  the 


294    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

Forks  of  Mohongialo  to  the  French  on  the  17.  inst  :  who 
fell  down  from  Weningo  with  a  Fleet  of  360  Battoes 
and  Canoos,  with  upwards  of  one  Thousan  Men,  and 
eighteen  pieces  of  Artilery,  which  they  planted  against 
the  Fort,  drew  up  their  Men,  and  sent  the  inclosed  sum- 
mons to  Mr.  Ward,  who  having  but  an  inconsiderable 
number  of  Men  and  no  Canon  to  make  a  proper  defence 
was  obliged  to  surrender ;  they  suffered  him  to  draw 
off  his  Men,  Arms,  and  working  Tools  and  gave  leave 
that  he  might  retreat  to  the  Inhabitants. 

I  have  heard  of  your  Honour's  great  zeal  for  his 
Maj*y's  service,  and  for  all  our  interests  on  the  present 
occasion.  You  will  see  by  the  inclosed  speech  of  the 
Half-Kings,  that  the  Indians  expect  some  Assistance 
from  you,  and  I  am  persuaded  you  will  take  proper 
notice  of  their  moving  speech,  and  of  their  unshaken 
fidelity. 

I  thought  it  more  adviseable  to  acquaint  your  Honr 
with  it  immediately  than  to  wait  till  you  could  get  in- 
telligence by  way  of  Williamsburgh,  and  the  Young  Men, 
as  the  Half-King  proposes. 

I  have  arrived  thus  far  with  a  detachment  of  150  Men, 
Coll.  Fry  with  the  remainder  of  the  Regiment  and  artilery 
is  daily  expected.  In  the  mean  time  we  advance  slowly 
across  the  mountains,  making  the  Roads  as  we  March,  fit 
for  the  carriage  of  our  Gunns  ettc.  and  are  designed  to 
proceed  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  red  stone  Creek,  which 
enters  Monhongialo,  about  37  Miles  above  the  Fort  taken 
by  the  French,  from  whence  we  have  a  Water  carriage 
down  the  River  ;  and  there  is  a  Store  house  built  by 
the  Ohio  Company,  which  may  serve  as  a  recepticle  for 
our  Ammunitions  and  provisions. 


APPENDIX  295 

Besides  these  French  that  came  from  Weningo,  We 
have  credible  accounts  that  another  party  are  coining  up 
Ohio.  We  also  have  intelligence  that  600  of  the  Chip- 
poways  and  Ottoways,  are  Marching  down  Sciodo  Creek 
to  join  them. 

I  hope  your  Honr  will  excuse  the  Freedom  I  have 
assumed  in  acquainting  you  with  these  advices.  It  was 
the  warm  zeal  I  owe  my  Country  that  influenced  me  to  it 
and  occasioned  this  Express.  I  am  with  all  due  Respect 
and  regard,  your  Honrs  most  obedient  and  very  humble 
servant,  G°  WASHINGTON. 

James  Foley,  the  express,  says  he  left  Mr.  Washington 
at  the  New  Store  on  Potowmack  about  130  Miles  from 
Capt"  Trent's  Fort  at  the  mouth  of  Mohongialo  on  Sat- 
urday 27th  April. 

Philadelphia  6th  May  1754. 

A  true  Copy  Examined  by  Richard  Peters,  Secretary. 
Doc.  Rel.  to  Col.  His.  of  N.  Y.  vi.  840. 


NOTE  XII. 

"  How  far  the  various  attempts  of  the  red  man  to  com- 
bine in  federal  union  for  common  strength  or  defence,  and 
especially  those  in  the  stable  political  edifice  in  New 
York,  were  potent  in  aiding  the  formation  of  the  Amer- 
ican Commonwealth,  is  an  interesting  question  worthy  of 
careful  study.  That  it  was  not  without  direct  influence 
upon  the  minds  of  those  constructive  statesmen  like 
Franklin,  Hamilton,  Madison,  Monroe,  who  came  so 
numerously  from  States  nearest  the  Long  House,  and 


296    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO   HISTORY 

most  familiar  with  Iroquois  politics,  cannot  be  denied. 
.  .  .  Our  government  is  in  a  measure  copied  from  that  of 
the  forest  republicans,  whose  political  edifice  and  conquests 
shaped  the  history  and  civilization  of  this  continent." 

Griffis,   Sir  Wm.    Johnson  and  The    Six    Nations, 
pp.  53,  54. 

"  Franklin's  plan  of  union,  which  was  the  beginning  of 
our  own  federal  republic,  was  directly  inspired  by  the 
wisdom,  durability,  and  inherent  strength  which  he  had 
observed  in  the  Iroquois  constitution.  Under  the  articles 
of  Confederation  we  managed  our  affairs  for  a  dozen 
years  very  much  on  the  Iroquois  plan,  and  it  must  be 
confessed  were  not  quite  as  apt  in  execution  and  in  admin- 
istrative wisdom  as  our  barbarian  predecessors. 

"  When  the  colonies  became  the  United  States,  the 
Iroquois  recognized  the  similarity  of  the  League  to  their 
own,  and  gave  to  the  new  nation  the  name  of  '  The 
Thirteen  Fires.' " 

Morgan,  The  League  of  the  Iroquois  (1901).    Anno- 
tated by  Herbert  M.  Lloyd.     Note  38. 

"The  central  government  was  organized  and  admin- 
istered upon  the  same  principles  which  regulated  that  of 
each  nation  in  its  separate  capacity  ;  the  nations  sustain- 
ing nearly  the  same  relation  to  the  League  that  the 
American  States  bear  to  the  Union." 

L.  H.  Morgan,  The  League  of  the  Iroquois  (1901), 
vol.  i.,  p.  58. 


APPENDIX  297 


NOTE  XIII. 

As  to  the  "  new  religion,  as  teachings  of  Hand- 
some Lake  (1735-1815)  have  been  called"  and 
for  an  interesting  account  of  the  religious  dances 
and  addresses  of  gratitude  to  the  Great  Spirit,  see 
Donaldson,  Six  Nations  of  New  York,  Census 
Bulletin  (llth  Census  of  theU.  S.),  page  47. 

Mr.  Donaldson  says : 

"  The  cardinal  difference  between  the  pagan  Indians  of 
the  Six  Nations  and  the  ancient  philosophers  of  Greece  and 
Rome  lies  in  the  Indian  recognition  of  one  great  Spirit 
to  whom  all  other  spirits  are  subject.  They  do  not  wor- 
ship nature  or  the  works  of  nature,  but  the  God  of  nature, 
and  all  physical  objects  which  minister  to  their  comfort 
and  happiness  are  his  gifts  to  his  children.  It  is  this 
'  unknown  god '  whom  Paul  unfolded  to  the  supersti- 
tious Athenians  in  the  heaven-arched  court  space  of  the 
Areopagus  on  Mars  Hill  that  the  Indians  in  vague  forms 
of  heathen  faith  seek  to  worship." 

Mr.  Horatio  Hale  writes  : 

"  The  regard  for  women  which  is  apparent  in  this 
hymn  (The  '  National  Anthem  '  in  the  Iroquois  '  Book  of 
Rites '),  and  in  other  passages  of  the  Book,  is  deserving 
of  notice.  The  common  notion  that  women  among  the 
Indians  were  treated  as  inferior  and  made  '  beasts  of 
burden,'  is  unfounded  so  far  as  the  Iroquois  are  con- 
cerned, and  among  all  other  tribes  of  which  I  have  any 
knowledge.  With  them,  as  with  civilized  nations,  the 


298     AMERICA  IN   RELATION   TO   HISTORY 

work  of  community  and  the  cares  of  the  family  are  fairly 
divided.  Among  the  Iroquois  the  hunting  and  fishing,  the 
house-building  and  canoe-making,  fell  to  the  men.  The 
women  cooked,  made  the  dresses,  scratched  the  ground 
with  their  light  hoes,  planted  and  gathered  the  crops,  and 
took  care  of  the  children.  The  household  goods  be- 
longed to  the  woman.  Ou  her  death,  her  relatives,  and 
not  her  husband,  claimed  them.  The  children  were  also 
hers  ;  they  belonged  to  her  clan,  and  in  case  of  a  separa- 
tion they  went  with  her.  She  was  really  the  head  of  the 
household ;  and  in  this  capacity  her  right,  when  she 
chanced  to  be  the  oldest  matron  of  a  noble  family,  to 
select  the  successor  of  a  deceased  chief  of  that  family,  was 
recognized  by  the  highest  law  of  the  confederacy." 

Hale,  Iroquois'  Book  of  Rites,  p.  65. 

"The  Iroquois,  who  had  seemed  little  better  than 
demons  to  the  missionaries  while  they  knew  them  only 
as  enemies  to  the  French  or  their  Huron  allies,  astonished 
them,  on  a  nearer  acquaintance,  by  the  development  of 
similar  traits  of  natural  goodness.  'You  will  find  in 
them,'  declares  one  of  these  fair-minded  and  cultivated 
observers,  '  virtues  which  might  well  put  to  blush  the 
majority  of  Christians.  There  is  no  need  of  hospitals 
among  them,  because  there  are  no  beggars  among  them, 
and  indeed,  none  who  are  poor,  so  long  as  any  of  them 
are  rich.  Their  kindness,  humanity,  and  courtesy  not 
merely  make  them  liberal  in  giving,  but  almost  lead  them 
to  live  as  though  everything  they  possess  were  held  in 
common.  No  one  can  want  food  while  there  is  corn  any- 
where in  the  town.' " 

Hale,  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites,  p.  85. 


SUGGESTIONS   FOR  READING  OR 
REFERENCE 

THIS  is  not  intended  as  a  bibliography  for  the  criti- 
cal student,  but  rather  to  suggest  books  which  have  a 
certain  inspiration  or  literary  charm,  or  that  may  be 
found  useful  for  reference  by  the  general  reader  con- 
cerning matters  referred  to  in  the  text. 

In  connection  with  Chapter  I.: 

Harper,  George  McLean,  The  Legend  of  the  Holy  Grail. 

(Bait.  Modern  Language  Asso.  of  America,  1893.) 
Nutt,  Alfred,  Studies  on  the  Legend  of  The  Holy  Grail. 
Green,  J.  R.,  A  Short  History  of  the  English  People, 

chapter  iii.  (The   Great  Charter). 
Alger,   Abby  Langdon,   The    Little    Flowers     of  St. 

Francis  of  Assisi. 

Vaughan,  Robert,  Life  and  opinions  of  John  Wycliffe. 
Storrs,  Richard  S.,  Oration  on  John  Wycliffe  and  the 

First  English  Bible. 

Dante,  Vita  Nuova  (Charles  Eliot  Norton's  translation). 
Dante,  II  Convito  (Katherine  Hilliard's  translation). 
Vernon  Lee,  Euphorion. 

Vernon  Lee,  Renaissance  Fancies  and  Studies. 
Irving,  Washington,  Life  of  Columbus. 
Irving,  Washington,  The  Conquest  of  Granada. 
Irving,  Washington,  The  Voyages  of  the  Companions 

of  Columbus. 


300    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Irving,  Washington,  The  Alhambra. 

Prescott,  W.  H.,  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

Prescott,  W.  H.,  The  Conquest  of  Mexico. 

Prescott,  W.  H.,  The  Conquest  of  Peru. 

Lea,  Henry  Charles,  The  Moriscoes  of  Spain. 

Fiske,  John,  The  Discovery  of  America. 

Benjamin,  Park,  The  Intellectual  Rise  in  Electricity. 

Bryce,  James,  Constantinople. 

Grimm,  Hermann,  Life  of  Michael  Angelo  (translated 

by  Fanny  Elizabeth  Bunnett). 
Hawthorne,  Nathaniel,  The  Marble  Faun. 
Oliphant,  Mrs.,  The  Makers  of  Florence. 
Eliot,  George,  Romola. 

Symonds,  John  Addingtou,  Renaissance  in  Italy. 
Burckhardt,  Jacob,  The  Civilization  of  the  Renaissance, 

(translation  by  S.  G.  C.  Middleraore). 
Einstein,  Lewis,  The  Italian  Renaissance  in  England. 
Seebohm,  Frederick,  The  Oxford  Reformers  of  1498. 
Jebb,  R.  C.,  Erasmus  (the  Rede  lecture). 
Froude,  J.  A.,  Life  and  Letters  of  Erasmus. 
Lilly,  W.  S.,  Renaissance  Types. 
White,  James,  Eighteen  Christian  Centuries. 
Acton,  Lord,  On  the  Study  of  History. 

In  connection  with  Chapter  H. : 

Bancroft,  George,  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  i. 

Choate,  Rufus,  The  Importance  of  Illustrating  New 
England  History  by  a  series  of  Romances,  and  The 
Age  of  the  Pilgrims,  the  Heroic  Period  of  our 
History. 

Fiske,  John,  The  Beginnings  of  New  England. 

Schiller,  Thirty  Years'  War. 

Seeley,  J.  R.  Introduction  to  Political  Science. 


SUGGESTIONS  301 

Guizot,  History  of  Civilization. 

Griffis,  W.  E.,  Brave  Little  Holland. 

Masson,  David,  Life  and  Times  of  John  Milton. 

Motley,  John  Lothrop,  The  Rise  of  The  Dutch  Republic. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  Life  and  Letters  of  Cromwell. 

Green,  J.  R.,  A  Short  History  of  the  English  People, 

chapter  viiL  (Puritan  England). 
Brewster,  Sir  David,  The  Life  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton. 
Sidney,  Algernon,  Discourses  on  Government. 
Campbell,  A.  C.,  Life  of  Hugo  Grotius,  in  first  vol.  of 

his  translation  of  War  and  Peace. 
Sully,  Memoirs. 
Bradford,   Gov.   William,    History    of    the    Plymouth 

Plantation. 
Hoar,  George  F.,  Address  of,  in  Report  of  Proceedings 

incident  to  the  return  of  the  Bradford  Manuscript. 

See  The  Bradford  History,  printed  under  direction  of 

the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts. 
Taine,  H.,  History  of  English  Literature  (chapter  on 

the  Christian  Renaissance). 
Campbell,  Douglas,  The  Puritan  in  England,  Holland, 

and  America. 

Bryce,  James,  The  Holy  Roman  Empire. 
Nash,  H.  S.,  Genesis  of  the  Social  Conscience. 

In  connection  with  Chapter  HI. : 

Frothingham,  Richard,  The  Rise  of  the  Republic. 

Fiske,  John,  The  Critical  Period  of  American  History. 

Hill,  Mabel,  Liberty  Documents,  A  Working  Book  in 
Constitutional  History. 

The  Federalist. 

Madison,  James,  Journal  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Fed- 
eral Convention. 


302    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Fisher,  Sydney  George,  The  Evolution  of  the  Constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

Stevens,  Charles  Ellis,  Sources  of  the  Constitution. 

Straus,  Oscar  S.,  Origin  of  Republican  Form  of 
Government. 

Freeman,  E.  A.,  Greater  Greece  and  Greater  Britain. 

Flint,  Robert,  History  of  the  Philosophy  of  History. 

Parkman,  Francis,  Montcalm  and  Wolfe. 

Golden,  Cadwallader,  History  of  the  Five  Nations. 

Hillebrand,  Karl,  German  Thought  from  the  Seven 
Years'  War  to  Goethe's  Death. 

Morley,  John,  Diderot  and  the  Encyclopaedists. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  French  Revolution. 

Michelet,  Jules,  French  Revolution. 

Aristotle,  Politics. 

Kant,  Immanuel,  Principles  of  Politics  (translation  by 
W.  Hastie). 

Morris,  G.  S.,  Exposition  of  Kant  (Griggs'  Philos. 
Classics). 

Morris,  G.  S.,  Hegel's  Philosophy  of  the  State  and  of 
History  (Griggs'  Philos.  Classics). 


In  connection  with  Chapters  IV.  and  V.  : 

Harvey,  Peter,  Reminiscences  of  Daniel  Webster. 

Webster,  Daniel,  Great  Speeches  and  Orations  of  (Bos- 
ton, 1882). 

Curtis,  Geo.  Ticknor,  Life  of  Daniel  Webster. 

Miiller,  Wilhelm  A.,  Political  History  of  Recent  Times 
(Transl.  by  John  P.  Peters). 

Hodges,  George,  Christian  Socialism  and  the  Social 
Union. 

Maurice,  John  Frederick  Denison,  Christian  Socialism. 


SUGGESTIONS  303 

Wood,  Esther,  Dante  Rossetti  and  the  Pre-Raphaelite 
Movement. 

Bate,  Percy  H.,  The  English  Pre-Raphaelite  Painters 
(with  illustrations). 

Forsyth,  Peter  T.,  Religion  in  Recent  Art. 

Brandes,  George,  Main  Currents  in  Nineteenth  Century 
Literature  —  Vol.  II.,  The  Romantic  School  in  Ger- 
many. 

Kastner,  L.  E.,  and  Atkins,  H.  G.,  A  Short  History  of 
French  Literature. 

Texte,  Joseph,  J.  J.  Rousseau  and  the  Cosmopolitan 
Spirit  in  Literature. 

Macdonald,  Frederika,  Studies  in  France  of  Rousseau 
and  Voltaire. 

Raynal  (Abbe  G.  T.  F.),  Influence  of  the  Intercourse 
with  the  New  World,  etc.  —  in  Philos.  and  Polit. 
Hist,  of  the  Settlement  and  Trade  in  the  East  and 
West  Indies. 

Hale,  Edward  Everett,  The  Results  of  Columbus'  Dis- 
covery. (Proc.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc'y,  Vol.  VIII.) 

Tudor,  William,  Life  of  James  Otis. 

Ritchie,  D.  G.,  Darwin  and  Hegel. 

Ritchie,  D.  G.,  Studies  in  Political  and  Social  Ethics. 

Sunmer,  Charles,  Prophetic  Voices  concerning  America. 

Tozer,  Henry  J.,  Rousseau's  Social  Contract  (with  valu- 
able Introduction). 

Bryce,  James,  Studies  in  History  and  Jurisprudence. 

Maine,  Henry  Sumner,  Ancient  Law.  (Edition  with 
Introduction  by  Prof.  Theodore  W.  Dwight.) 

Milton,  John,  The  Tenure  of  Kings  and  Magistrates. 

Shaler,  Nathaniel  S.,  The  Individual. 

Drummond,  Henry,  The  Ascent  of  Man. 

Herder,  Philosophy  of  History  (Tr.  by  T.  Churchill). 

Dunning,  W.  A.,  Political  Theories,  Ancient  and  Me- 
diaeval. 


304    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Maurice,  Frederick  Denison,  Moral  and  Metaphysical 
Philosophy,  Vol.  II.  (as  to  Nicolaus  von  Cusa). 

Kingsley,  Charles,  Lectures  on  the  Ancien  Regime  be- 
fore the  French  Revolution. 

Paulsen,  Friedrich,  Life  of  Immanuel  Kant. 

Hale,  Horatio,  The  Iroquois  Book  of  Rites. 

Donaldson,  Six  Nations  of  New  York  (Census  Bulletin. 
Eleventh  Census  of  the  U.  S.). 

Hall,  Charles  H.,  The  Dutch  and  the  Iroquois.  A  paper 
read  before  the  Long  Island  Historical  Society,  Feb. 
21,  1882. 

Beauchamp,  W.  M.,  The  Iroquois  Trail. 

Griffis,  William  Elliot,  Sir  Wm.  Johnson  and  the  Six 
Nations. 

Morgan,  L.  H.,  Ancient  Society. 

Morgan,  L.  H.,  League  of  the  Iroquois  (1901). 

Sparks,  Jared,  Works  of  Benjamin  Franklin. 

Bigelow,  John,  Autobiography  of  Benjamin  Franklin. 
Edited  by  John  Bigelow. 

Marshall,  John,  Life  of  Washington. 

Ferguson,  Charles,  The  Affirmative  Intellect. 

Henderson,  C.  H.,  Education  and  the  Larger  Life. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


ADAMS,  JOHN,  144,  195-196. 

Adams,  John  Quincy,  on  motto  of  Seal  of  Massachusetts, 
76-78. 

Adams,  Samuel,  144,  160. 

Agassiz,  114. 

Albany,  Congress  of  1754,  112,  129,  251-259. 

American  Pulpit,  of  period  denoted  by  date  1850,  181. 

American  Renaissance,  180-182. 

Angelo,  Michael,  as  a  youth  of  eighteen,  42  ;  inspired  by  the 
classic  statues,  46  ;  interpreter  of  Hebrew  Bible,  47. 

Annus  Mirabilis  (1588),  82. 

Anthropology,  263-264. 

Aristotle,  121,  213,  225,  237,  238. 

Art,  as  the  great  teacher,  25-28 ;  bound  in  at  time  of  Settle- 
ment, 80-81;  Schiller's  "cognition  of  beauty,"  116;  Pre- 
Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  178-179  ;  the  true  artist,  185  ;  the 
sense  of  beauty  in  man,  237-238. 

Aquinas,  St.  Thomas,  225. 

BACON,  FRANCIS,  73. 

Bible,  the  English,  Wycliffe  translation,  24, 273-274 ;  artistic 
impulse  of,  93,  95 ;  Tyndale  Bible,  95,  96 ;  a  part  of  Ameri- 
can history,  238. 

Biography,  of  humanity,  107. 

Bradford,  Gov.,  his  "  History  of  the  Plymouth  Plantation," 
97-105. 

Brown,  Ford  Maddox,  179. 


308    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO  HISTORY 

Browning,  Robert,  214-215,  280. 
Brunelleschi,  41. 
Buff  on,  117. 


CALHOUN,  JOHN  C.,  170,  172,  174. 

Carlyle,  82,  175. 

Centuries,  new  order  of,  231-233. 

Choate,  Ruf  us,  on  romance  of  New  England  history,  106. 

Christian  Socialism,  177-178. 

Clay,  Henry,  174. 

Colden,  Cadwallader,  256-257. 

Colonies,  propositions  for  union  of,  127  ;  condition  of,  under 
Federation,  126  ;  representation  under  Federation,  154. 

Columbus,  the  boy,  34  ;  at  Cordova  and  at  conquest  of  Gra- 
nada, 35-36  ;  spirit  of,  185-186. 

Compass,  the  mariner's,  38,  39. 

Confederation,  of  Colonies  of  New  England,  127;  of  Ameri- 
can Colonies,  conditions  under,  126  ;  plan  of  representation 
under,  154. 

Copernicus,  70. 

Cosmopolitical  State,  202-204,  216. 

Cotyledons,  historical,  47,  113,  164. 

Covenant,  made  in  cabin  of  "  Mayflower, "  98. 

Cowper,  117. 

Crabbe,  117. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  83,  93, 189. 

Cusa,  Nicolaus  von,  225-227. 

Cuvier,  113,114. 


DANTE,  his  Vita  Nuova,  21 ;  Giotto  painting  portrait  of,  25  ; 

his  teaching  through  forms  of  art,  26 ;  his  free  spirit,  28 ; 

his  feeling  for  nature,  28  ;  as  inspirer,  40. 
Declaration  of  Independence,  141. 
Descartes,  74. 
Devolution,  213-217. 


INDEX  309 

Diderot,  115,  279. 

Donatello,  41. 

Douglass,  Stephen  A.,  174. 

Dutch  Declaration  of  Independence,  227,  228. 

ELIZABETH,  QUEEN,  her  part  in  great  design  of  Henry  of 

Navarre,  87-88. 

Encyclopaedia,  French,  115,  208. 
English  Language,  coming  into  use,  24. 
Erasmus,  44,  64. 
Evolution,  118,  202-205,  213-219. 

FEDERAL  CONVENTION,  126,  142-159,  203. 

Federalist,  The,  160. 

First  Encounter,  the  story  of  from  Bradford  Manuscript,  99- 
105. 

Five  Nations,  formation  of  the  federation,  48-55  ;  as  a  factor 
in  struggle  between  France  and  England  for  supremacy  on 
North  American  continent,  130-132  ;  as  an  object  lesson  to 
the  colonies,  132-136 ;  the  nature  of  their  government 
and  their  character  as  a  people,  136-138 ;  legend  of  the 
Horse-shoe  Falls,  139-141 ;  the  story  of,  239-257  ;  the  mean- 
ing of  the  story  of,  261-265  ;  New  York  owes  its  present 
northern  boundary  to  the,  281 ;  federation  of  as  a  model 
for  our  form  of  government,  295-296;  religion  and  cus- 
toms of,  297-298. 

Food-Leaves  of  History,  44-48,  113,  164,  229-230. 

Franklin,  Benjamin,  129,  147-148,  155,  159,  255-257,  259- 
260. 

Frederick  the  Great,  126. 

GALILEO,  70-72. 
Gard,  the  legend  of,  55-60. 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth,  20. 
Gerry,  Elbridge,  151,  158,  159. 


310    AMERICA  IN  RELATION   TO   HISTORY 

Ghiberti,  41. 

Gibbon,  117. 

Goethe,  117-118,  125. 

Gold,  discovery  of  in  California,  180-181. 

Grail,  legend  of  the  Holy  Grail,  18-21,  132,  225. 

Granada,  conquest  of,  36. 

Greece,  and   Israel  as  Food-Leaves  of  History,  44-48,  113, 

228-230. 
Gunpowder,  38. 

HALE,  EDWARD  EVERETT,  Lines  on  Columbus,  64-65. 

Hale,  Horatio,  240-241. 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  145-146,  152-154,  163. 

Hamilton's  Plan,  152-154. 

Harvey,  73. 

Hegel,  112,  119,  120,  217. 

Henry  of  Navarre,  his  great  design,  87-90,  276-278. 

Henry,  Patrick,  144, 160,  161. 

Hiawatha  (the  real),  his  forest  federation,  48-55,  130,  138, 

239-257. 

Hoar,  Geo.  F.,  on  Bradford  manuscript,  97. 
Hopkins,  Mark,  174. 
Hugo,  Victor,  175. 
Hunt,  Holman,  179. 

INDEPENDENCE  HALL,  141. 

Individual,  the,  and  the  State,  123 ;  the  American  citizen  as 

the  new,  124-125  ;  the  Constitution  as  carrying  out  will  of 

the,  164;  the  awaking  and  gazing,  184-186. 
Integration,  202-206. 
International  law,  210-212. 
Iroquois,  formation  of  their  federation,  48-55  ;  book  of  rites, 

55;    concerning  the,    130-138,   139-141,239-257-261-263; 

and  the  northern  boundary  of  New  York,  281  ;  federation 

of  as  a  model,  295-296  ;  religion  and  customs  of,  297-298. 
Israel,  Greece  and  Israel  as  Food-Leaves  of  History,  44-48, 

113,229-230. 


INDEX  311 

JEFFERSON,  THOMAS,  144,  160. 

KANT,  IMMANUEL,  116, 116,117,  118,  120,  125,  236. 
Kennedy,  Archibald,  246,  282-293. 
Kepler,  John,  70. 
King,  people  crowned  as,  233-235. 

Kingsley,  Charles,  with  relation  to  Christian  Socialism,  177- 
178;  as  to  educating  men  into  self-government,  235. 

LAFAYETTE,  125,  197-198. 

Law  of  Nature,  209-213,  218,  236-237. 

Lee  (Light  Horse  Harry),  161 

Lee,  Kichard  Henry,  161. 

Legend,  of  the  Holy  Grail,  18-21 ;  of  Gard,  56-60;  value  of 
myth  and  legend,  60-62  ;  of  the  Horse-shoe  Falls,  139-141. 

Leonardo  da  Vinci,  43. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  174,  237. 

Literature,  in  time  of  Renaissance,  29-32, 46  ;  of  the  Christian 
Renaissance,  80-81 ;  literary  impulse  of  the  English  Bible, 
93-95;  of  eighteenth  century,  115,  118;  of  the  period  de- 
noted by  1850,  180-182. 

Locke,  John,  74. 

Love,  mediaeval,  21. 

Luther,  Martin,  44. 

MADISON,  JAMES,  142,  147,161. 
Magna  Charta,  23. 
Marshall,  John,  161. 

Maurice,  Frederick  Denison,  with  relation  to  Christian  Social- 
ism, 177-178. 

Mayflower,  Log  of  the,  97-105. 
Michelet,  115,  234. 
Millais,  179. 

Milton,  John,  his  Ode  on  the  Nativity,  90-91. 
Montesquieu,  114. 


312    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Morris,  Gouverneur,  143,  149,  150. 
Murillo,  81. 

NEW  HAMPSHIRE,  161. 

New  Jersey  Plan,  152-154. 

Newton,  Sir  Isaac,  73. 

Niagara,  legend  of  Horse-shoe  Falls,  139-141. 

Nullification,  170-176. 

OTIS,  JAMES,  argument  of,  against  Writs  of  Assistance,  192- 
197,  207,  212. 

PARLIAMENT,  scenes  in  English  (1628-29),  84-85. 

Patterson,  William,  152. 

Peace,  The  Real  Hiawatha  and  the  Legend  of  Gard,  48-62; 
star  of,  86,  87  ;  great  design  of  Henry  of  Navarre,  87-90 ; 
Milton's  Ode  on  the  Nativity,  90-91 ;  Hugo  Grotius,  92-93  ; 
Immanuel  Kant's  "  Perpetual  Peace,"  120;  toasts  concern- 
ing, at  dinner  on  occasion  of  celebration  of  ratification  of 
Constitution,  162;  Mr.  Webster's  efforts  for,  in  1850,  173- 
175;  Victor  Hugo,  concerning,  175;  Carlyle  concerning, 
175 ;  "  Music  of  the  Morning  Star,"  220. 

Penn,  William,  106,  128. 

Petrarch,  29-30,  33. 

Philosophy  of  History,  the  new,  61-62,  263-265. 

Pilgrims,  reasons  for  leaving  England,  and  again  for  leaving 
Holland,  99-100. 

Plymouth  Plantation,  Bradford's  History  of,  97-105. 

Poggio,  30-31. 

Pope  Innocent  VII.,  31. 

Pope  Nicholas  V.,  31. 

Pope  Pius  II.,  31. 

Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  178,  179. 

President,  debate  in  Federal  Convention  concerning  choice 
and  term  of  office  of,  158. 


INDEX  313 

Priestley,  114. 

Printing,  first  book  on  Italian  soil,  32  ;  introduction  of,  38. 

Psychology,  physiological,  264-265. 

Pulci,  33. 


RANDOLPH,  EDMUND,  149, 151,  158,  159,  161. 

Raphael,  as  a  boy  of  twelve,  42. 

Reconstruction,  political  of  Europe,  176-177. 

Reformation,  the,  70. 

Rembrandt,  81. 

Renaissance,  the,  just  before  the  dawn  of,  17-24 ;  early  dawn 
of,  22-32  ;  noon-tide  of,  32-44 ;  forces  put  in  operation  by, 
63 ;  Teutonic  and  Christian,  70;  the  American,  180-182; 
awakening  and  gazing  individual  of,  184-186. 

Representation  in  National  Congress,  154-157. 

Revere,  Paul,  160. 

Rossetti,  Dante  Gabriel,  179. 

Rousseau,  115,  207-213,  227,  235-236,  280. 

Rubens,  81. 

Ruskin,  John,  179. 


SAN  MARCO  GARDENS,  41. 

Schiller,  115-116,  118. 

Schools,  medical,  of  the  eighteenth  century,  114;  public,  in 

England,  177  ;  study  of  history  in,  265-270. 
Seal,  great  seal  of  Massachusetts,  74-78  ;  Seal  of  the  United 

States,  229-230. 

Seneca,  lines  of,  from  the  "  Medea,"  186. 
Seven  Years'  War,  129,  247-255,  261. 
Shaler,  Nathaniel  S.,  215. 
Sidney,  Algernon,  74-79. 
Silliman,  Benjamin  D.,  174. 
Slavery,  relation  of  to  proceedings  of  Federal  Convention, 

157;  discussions  concerning  in  Congress,  1850,  172;  1850 

as  epoch-mark  concerning,  175-176. 


314    AMERICA  IN  RELATION  TO  HISTORY 

Smith,  Adam,  115. 

Smith,  Erminie  A.,  "A  Seneca  Legend  of  Hi-Nu  and  Ni- 
agara," 139-141. 
Sociology,  117. 
Socrates,  226,  236. 
St.  Francis  of  Assisi,  21. 
Star,  of  peace,  86-87  ;  resembling  sword,  274. 
Suggestions  for  reading  or  reference,  299-304. 
Sword,  the  drawn,  82-86,  175. 


TELESCOPE,  71. 

Thirty  Years'  War,  the,  82-83,  275-276. 
Tree,  the,  as  a  political  symbol,  112-113. 
Tycho  Brahe,  72. 

UNIFICATION,  200-205. 
Unity,  a  saving,  218. 
Universal  State,  120-122,  217. 

VAN  DTCK,  81. 
Vattel,  212. 
Velasquez,  81. 
Virginia  Plan,  149-154. 
Voltaire,  115,  279. 


WAGNER,  RICHARD,  see  Preface  and  also  note  pp.  263-264. 

Washington,  George,  Lafayette  sends  him  Key  of  the  Bas- 
tille, 125  ;  relics  in  Independence  Hall,  141  ;  words  of,  at 
opening  Federal  Convention,  143 ;  as  presiding  over  Fed- 
eral Convention,  149  ;  influence  of,  at  critical  moment,  160  ; 
the  chain  from  Aristotle,  237 ;  at  beginning  of  Seven 
Years'  War,  247-255;  Iroquois  tradition  concerning,  262; 
Letter  of  Major  Washington  to  Governor  Hamilton,  293- 
295. 


INDEX  315 

Watt,  James,  114. 

Webster,  Daniel,  170-176. 

Williams,  Roger,  106. 

Wilson,  James,  149,  162. 

Winckelmann,  118. 

Winthrop,  Robert  C.,  on  Algernon  Sidney,  74-79. 

Wordsworth,  108,  117,  214,  216. 

Writs  of  Assistance,  192-197. 

Wycliffe,  John,  24,  27,  273-274. 


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